Since we are a compulsory education country -- by our last statistics almost ninety percent of our population graduates high school -- then almost all of us have been to high school commencement exercises for at least one family member or friend. That also means that most likely we have sat through at least one inspiring commencement speech other than the class valedictorian.
But how many of us have been blessed with a personal commencement speech by the foremost business guru of our century, Mr. William Gates of Microsoft fame?
Recently Bill Gates gave out some hair-raising advice to a high school graduating class. It was advice, he said, that he had self formulated and had never learned in high school. Now, whether we like him or not, he has proven himself a man to be listened to.
Rule 1:
Life is not fair - get used to it.
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Rule 2:
The world won't care about your self esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
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Rule 3:
You will NOT make $40,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.
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Rule 4:
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
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Rule 5:
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it 'Opportunity'.
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Rule 6:
If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
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Rule 7:
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
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Rule 8:
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
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Rule 9:
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
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Rule 10:
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
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Rule 11:
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
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But, as most of us know, like all commencement exercise speeches, there are precious few who hear the speaker much less follow their advice. Another rather stunning truism of life is that there is very little room at the top and only one space in the stratosphere -- Bill Gates already sits in that chair.
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