It's Hard

Recently, I picked up my youngest brother (DB3) from college.  He has just finished his freshman year.  He was majoring in pharmacy.

School had always come very easily up until this year.  Calculus, chemistry, biology, and physics at that level are hard.  Hard enough that it was hard for him.  On top of never really having any subject that was hard, he had to deal with multiple subjects that were hard at the same time.

So DB3 solution.  Stop going to school.  Get an entry job doing something.  Maybe go to the community college to get an "easy" degree. 

I'm not trying to knock on community colleges.  I think they are great.  However, I don't get the "easy" part.  Or maybe I should say I don't agree with the "easy" part.

Most things I have done in life that bring me the most pride and satisfaction were not easy.  School was not easy for me.  Particularly in elementary school.  I had to try hard from an early age to "get" many academic concepts.  Now I think I was also learning something other than the specific skills (which were important enough in their own right). 

Hard does not equal bad.  You need to look at what the end result of the work will be.  Do I think it will be worth the effort in the end?  Do I think I can do it?  Not necessarily without some failure, but can I do it in the end.  After 6 years of Spanish, I decided realistically learning a foriegn language decently was not in the cards for me.

Recently, I accepted a board position.  Part of my duties were to update a packet.  Technically, all I had to do was replace some names with some other names and update dates.  The problem was the finish product looked sloppy.  Over a period of many years, people just added new things.  There were 8 fonts and I don't know how many sizes used.  Single space, 1.5 space, double spaced.  List (some with bullets, others made with check marks, others numbered, others lettered).  Random use of tabs, spaces, and returns.  Random forms that are not used.  Ugh.  I couldn't just replace the names.  It is all now in the same font and sizes (larger size for the titles of the sections, smaller for the details).  If it is a list of points that don't have to be followed in order, it has dot bullets, with one space between each line.  If it needs to be done in order, it is numbered.  The document was 31 pages (one sided) last year.  This year 9 (double sided).  I probably would have been better off just retyping the whole thing in a fresh document (but I decided that too far into the "fixing").  When I was done, it was a lot harder than it could have been.  But it also looks a whole lot better.  I don't think many (if anyone) will notice.  I know.  I also won't have a problem claiming it as my work.  It was worth it.

It is the idea that doing something that is hard or doing it the hard way or not taking the easy way out is something I'm trying to teach.  Pyrope has many challenges.  Speaking, listening, developing an attention span.  Obsidian has challenges.  Learning new physical tasks (yes, I know since he is so small I can carry him up and down stairs instead of making him do it, and yes I know it is hard for him to do it, but he is not going to get any better if he is always carried).  Learning when it is best to keep one's mouth shut.

Hard is not something to be afraid of.  There is such a thing as too easy.

Balance.  It is all about balance.