Perfect for the season...

As Graduation season is among us, it's the perfect opportunity to hear some inspiring speeches. Some are from your fellow classmates and other are from famous people - who didn't even graduate. Regardless of who they are, you're left with something new. A new chapter.

I recently came across this speech that I thought was very fitting for the occasion. Too often we're caught up with going from Point A to Point B and crossing off the things on our list that we forget to just sit and listen. Although this speech has been widely credited to Bill Gates, he did not give this speech. It was Charles J. Sykes, author of 1996 book: Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write or Add.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Some Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
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.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you a get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parent's fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parent's 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 thought you were. so before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
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 the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employees are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.