When I was in college, we joked about how we had to learn “what to kiss and when.” Some of my classmates facetiously said their goal in life was to “amass great wealth and power.” Generally, we rejected the notion that college was all about making money and “climbing the ladder.” That was then. But now, it seems the joke was on us. The game has been afoot for a long time: some have kissed the ring, some have bent the knee, and some have taken every opportunity to get what they wanted, even if others got hurt or killed. And some players are now running the country. They kiss the king’s “ring” on a daily basis.
No matter what we used to think, it turns out there is profit in playing the game. Hitching one’s wagon to a star, or rather a top predator, often works. We used to say the idea of college was to “broaden” the minds of young people. This goal sounds quaint now. After all, colleges have been touting the monetary advantages of earning a degree for many years. Perhaps gone are the days when learning more about the world and its inhabitants was thought to be good regardless of one’s career.
When colleges advertise the average lifetime earnings of their graduates, they tend to include those who have won life’s lottery. Not many can be professional athletes, movie stars, or pop idols. Not many can rise to the top of major law practices or medical specialties. Not many can become CEOs of Fortune 500 companies or private equity firms. In short, if the compensation of the one percent is ruled out, college graduates do well, but not well enough for colleges to use this statistic to “sell” more degrees.
Certainly, a degree ought to have practical uses. And graduates should be competent to compete in their chosen field. Yet, if that’s all there is, college will have been no more than a high-priced training program. On the other hand, it does my heart good to hear nursing graduates talk about how their education will help them serve people. Many degrees offer opportunities to “minister” to others, and that’s a good thing, regardless of the pay. A former college president used to say he hoped graduates wouldn’t just “go for the bucks,” because there’s much more to life than that.
Nonetheless, one must eat, and pay rent, and buy clothing, and save for retirement, and be able to afford children. Forty years ago, my father-in-law predicted children would one day become a luxury. It’s sad to say he wasn’t wrong. So, earning potential counts. But so does learning about how other people live and how things work. If the game is all about getting rich and controlling others, the knowledge business has failed us.
Back to the game. We get 70-80 years on average to play. More if we’re privileged, less if we’re not. It seems foolish for anyone to use those years to build themselves up while keeping others down. It’s unjust to hoard every advantage while making life harder for those to whom life has already been unfair. And what does it say about merit if we exclude or exploit others because of their skin color, nationality, gender, or religion? But we have a cadre of players who believe they have the right to do as they please because they are somehow better than others.
If knowing what to kiss and when and securing all advantages makes one better than others, perhaps I’ve been wrong all these years. We’ve seen many players amass great wealth and power without thinking too much about others. As an aging baby boomer, I apologize for my generation. We boomers are not better than others, we’re merely in a time-favored position.
Speaking of time. The time has come to stop kissing what shouldn’t be kissed and to stop pursuing what shouldn’t be pursued. Some have equated gold with gain and position with power. The great wealth and power of any generation is held by those who won’t kiss the ring, bend the knee, or treat others with indifference or contempt. It’s not about the one percent who believe they are better than the rest. It’s about those with the courage to see the joke for what it is. In the long run, people matter – not the degree, the money, or the game.
MurrayWorks 