Originally Posted by NewEveryDay
If you think about your son, yes, the boy is brilliant, but if he's not the hard-charger at work, do you want him to beat himself up about that? Or be easy on himself, acknowledge that even the best and brightest may not be enthusiastic about being hard-charging all the time.

Wow. Great question. I am honestly not sure. I know I will feel like a failure if he is not a hard charger (which he shows ever sign of NOT being). Do I hope he will find peace within himself? Yikes. I can't honestly say yes. I am sure I will send signals that I feel he is a failure if he isn't motivated to be hard charging. Wow. I would do to him exactly what my parents did to me. Yowzers, that is a scary thought. Scary enough to get me to change? I am not sure. Wooooowwwwww. Much to ponder.

Oh, and for those who keep insisting I am a success at work, sorry, but you are simply wrong. Yesterday I got the reminder card that they are printing the law school alumni directory. They publish every 5 years. I called the 800 number to confirm that they had accurate information. At the end of the call, they asked how much we earn. Not to put it in the directory. For the alumni association confidential use (presumably so they know who to hit up for big donations). The call center lady read off a list of income categories. I refused to answer. But just for reference, there were several categories, and I fall into the next to the bottom. 0 - 100. 100 - 300. And up from there for many more categories. So I can assure you that among my fellow alumni, I am considered a financial failure who is not even worth calling to ask for donations, because I clearly can't afford to give anything that the school would consider meaningful.

Right now I need to get my life insurance switched from annual renewable to 20 year level term. Then maybe we can address some of the other issues.


When you can see it coming, duck!