I wish I could help

I really wish that I could help people.

I wish that I had answers to all their problems and that they could come to me, give me the scoop, and I would tell them what they need to do. I might use this power for personal gain if I had it but right now, all I want is to give people a hand. Some people's idea of help includes "quit whining" or "deal with it". They also want to give people solutions to their problems but they lack the verbal dexterity or the sensitivity to say it any other way.

Me on the other hand, I empathize with people (more than I should really) and I want them to feel better because when I meet someone who is having a right crappy day, I feel crappy too through osmosis. I will sometimes offer advice if I know enough about what is upsetting them and I try not to interfere if my meddling could cause more damage but it would seem that most people are very adept at keeping their problems from public display. I know that I don't want my dirty laundry hanging out for everyone to see, so to speak, so I want to make it clear that I understand.

I don't want it to sound as though I want to bear the burden of society like some superhero come from a comic book to end all war and strife. Each person has their own problems and I know from experience that people don't like it when you come in to their lives telling them that they should do what you did to get over it. I understand that the only time that you should give assistance is when someone comes to you for advice. This is also the reason that I hesitate from giving advice in the comments sections of people's blogs.

I suppose that the moral of this blog is that I need to stop feeling sorry for everyone and worry about my own life. I just have to be there for people who want help. It is not feasible for me to try to give advice to everybody so I shouldn't waste any more thought power on it. What I should do is get back to studying for my mid-term.

Well, thanks for listening (errr, reading anyway.)

When I grow up...

There are two types of job: those that require you only to perform well at the work site and then clock out, and those that require a bit more of your time.

I believe that teaching is one of these jobs that you don't leave at the office. As much as I dislike homework now, I realize that I am going to be doing a whole lot more when I finally get out of this school. I came to this understanding after I handed in my research paper for history. I had been so focused upon getting the paper finished while I was writing it that I thought that writing papers was the most difficult thing anyone could do. It wasn't until I handed it in to my professor that I thought about what he has to do now. He has to read every 8-page paper and grade them accordingly; all that on top of preparing the lectures and seminars for each week while facing a majority of students that openly display their lackadaisical attitude towards his subject of interest. I can't wait to be doing what he's doing!

I actually plan to teach at the upper-high school level which, though it is very different from university, is fundamentally similar. I won't even have the benefit of having students motivated by making sure their money is well spent. I do look forward to it because I had good experiences in high school and I believe that it can be a very fascinating time as long as there are teachers willing to make it interesting.

Feeling Lucky?

I wish to pose a question to my readers.

I have always found that I had trouble with luck as a whole. I found that no matter how much I wished for something, it wouldn't just fall out of the sky and be given to me. Later, I realized that effort on my part was actually required to make many of my wishes come true.

Having spent a large portion of my childhood playing dice games I am also fairly knowledgeable in the concept of chance and having recently given up my passive style of play, I have learned the ability to distinguish between chance and odds and am getting better at using them.

The question that I would pose is how much does luck influence your life? Having spent so long "not trying" to influence odds in my favour, I can say fairly positively that I have an even mix of good and bad luck. I can also say that due to the lessons learned from my recent experiences I am prepared to take control of the reins and affect the odds in my life more directly.

So, having read this, I hope that you will look back on your own life and recognize some of the factors that can be attributed to luck and those that are directly influenced by your efforts to tip the scales in your favour.