I've been compiling a list of some memorable quotes, which I've discovered from articles I've read online. I would just add it to my ever growing list, which I would send to myself via e-mail. I figured that posting them on my blog would be a good idea for backing up the data in case, heaven forbid, something horrible happens to my Gmail account.

"Needless to say, I took a lot of criticism, some of it deserved, some of it excessive. And it hurt like you wouldn't believe. But I'm telling you all this for a reason. I've had a lot of success and I've had a lot of failure. I've looked good and I've looked bad. I've been praised and I've been criticized. But my mistakes have been necessary."

- Conan O'Brien during his commencement speech for the Harvard Class of 2000 http://www.february-7.com/features/conan.htm
When I came across this quote from Conan O'Brien, I must say that I was pretty impressed. I've always thought that the guy was funny and with humor, I think one should possess some wit, but this quote made him look pretty darn wise, imho.

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies — 'God damn it, you've got to be kind.' "

- Kurt Vonnegut http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html?hp
I somehow came across this quote when I first heard about Mr. Vonnegut's passing. I just have to wonder if he was kind during the 85 years he was on this earth.

"There are a lot of adults who still react childishly to challenges, of course. What you don't often find are kids who react to challenges like adults. When you do, you've found an adult, whatever their age."

- Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html
I have the pleasure of having met and knowing Paul Graham. He has some very interesting ideas and they are surreally similar to my husband's ideas. It's funny to see the two get really excited about the most outrageous concepts. Great minds really do think alike, I suppose.

These quotes just made me unconsciously nod my head with agreement.

"we live in a culture where mental illness is so incredibly popular that you're almost considered abnormal if you don't have one"

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/169/most-people-are-depressed-for-a-very-good-reason

"The most obvious failure of our education system is the number of 'educated' people who are financially illiterate and seem to have no concept of personal responsibility."

http://www.steve-olson.com/personal-responsibility-is-the-cornerstone-of-financial-literacy/

"Love your child enough to wait until you're an adult who is emotionally mature enough to raise him."

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/185/it-is-your-job-to-financially-provide-for-your-children

"Don't limit yourself to good ideas."
"Humans aren't rational -- they rationalize."

- Paul Buchheit paulbuchheit.blogspot.com

"The people who were wrong were rewarded. And they go right on mocking the people who were right."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274174,00.html
Yeah, I was also surprised that this came from "Faux" News.

"We achieve much more in peace than...unconstitutional, undeclared wars."

- Ron Paul http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=3958
Gosh, I really hope this guy becomes president someday.

"Parents and caretakers are the baby's first and best teachers. They instinctively adjust their speech, eye gaze and social signals to support language acquisition. Watching attention-getting DVDs and TV may not be an even swap for warm social human interaction"

http://www.scientistlive.com/18486/dvd-and-video-hinder-infant-learning.thtml

I got to thinking about the topic of upbringing after having had a phone conversation with my mother. Somehow mine and my siblings' upbringing came up and my mother asked me if I had any negative experiences growing up. My reply was an assured, "Yes." Although my mother was clearly apologetic, I didn't say it to fish for an apology, I said it more as a matter of fact. I continued on to say that life shouldn't be sugary sweet all the time, anyway. That we all have to go through rough patches. I think how we deal with these rough patches is what defines us, and it's the rough patches in life that make the good times...well, good.

I mentally continued this conversation long after I hung up the phone and I was able to elaborate upon my ideas a little bit more. I figure that not everyone's upbringing is perfect. I'd like to believe that not one person has had a flawless childhood removed of negative events. Everyone has had something traumatizing happen to them, in varying degrees. It could've been as small as having had a bad fall or having had a dentist who was overly enthusiastic with their practice, or the degree of the trauma could have been as large as being violated in one way or another. I can see how it might be difficult to recover from the more major of childhood traumas where support from professionals is necessary, but I think most people can, and do, handle those run-of-the-mill ones pretty decently and move on. There are individuals out there who choose to be victimized by their past misfortunes and that in itself is unfortunate. To use past trauma to excuse bad behavior or to use as a scapegoat in bad decision making is never a good coping strategy. Mistakes are made and bad things happen. Learn from them. Find strength in mistakes and misfortune. Define yourself not by the drama that ensues with each unfortunate event, but by the knowledge and wisdom you've gleaned over time by seeing life's mishaps as opportunities to learn and grow.

I was doing some thinking one day, which I find I do best while driving, and I started thinking about a couple of issues. Fortunately, I was able to retain a lot of what I was thinking about long enough to be able to articulate it into words upon arriving home.

On patience:
With patience comes love, compassion, and empathy. It is never a virtue to be quick to anger. Patience requires discipline in holding back that impulse to react in a negative way. By imposing that discipline upon yourself, you're modeling discipline itself.

On raising children:
You have to go beyond seeing your children as these little creatures whom you could coerce, strong arm, and with whom to bargain to do your bidding. You have to look at them each as the person they will potentially become. Parenthood requires some ability in predicting the future especially when it comes to how your behavior will affect them down the road of life. It's much easier to think about all the good attributes you want them to have as an adult. But, to think about which attributes you don't want them to have requires taking some steps back and realizing that you, as their parent, are their very first teacher and role model and is therefore a major contributing factor to their outcome. To have raised an adult who posses more negative attributes than positive ones is like having soiled hands which no amount of washing will make clean.

Mind you, just because I think these things doesn't mean I live it every moment of every day. I am human after all and am prone to shortcomings. But I try my best and am hopeful that one day I will attain at least a 90% success rate on a consistent basis.

"So what brought this on?" one might ask.

I came across my old junior high and high school yearbooks and I realize that a lot has happened in the last 10-12 years. I never would've thought I'd be where and who I am today. A lot of what people have written in my yearbooks pretty much mostly say the same thing: I was fun to have around, I was funny, I was crazy, I made whatever class I had with him/her fun, etc. and that I should never change.

I say "mostly" because some of the well wishers were teachers and they had written pretty neutral notes to be polite...or to save the energy in being original for I imagine they had written the same thing in dozens of their other students' yearbooks. I know I would do the same thing.

As for not changing: Well, I did. I had to.

Looking back on my behavior during my junior high and high school years, I can't help but cringe. Yes, I was funny, I was crazy, but boy, was I annoying. Come to think of it, my friends were also probably being polite themselves.

"So what brought this on?" one might ask. It's the dawn of a new year: 2006. It's been 10 years (well, almost) since I graduated from high school. A lot of people look back on their high school years with a lot of fondness. They might recall some great times with friends. They'll reminisce on how they got to experience the typical teenage milestones (i.e., first dance, first date, first kiss, first car, etc.) during high school and overall, they just had a blast. Well, I can't relate with them because I was not one of them.

I was not pretty enough to be asked to dances nor (and possibly, thusly) did I have any semblance of a love life. I was not popular - not even close. I may have been funny, but my humor was not universal enough to appeal to everyone. Yes, I was funny to the friends I managed to have (God bless them), but to those who were not my friends, they would much rather kick my ass.

High school, for me, can be summed up into two emotions: embarrassment and fear. Pretty much from ages 12 through around 19 and a half were the most awkward and confusing years of my life. Trying to figure out what was going on with my body and mind AND live life as normally as possible was pretty difficult to juggle. A lot of the things I tried to do to be myself ended up a disaster, hence, the embarrassment. If I was not already feeling embarrassed about myself, I was afraid that something embarrassing will happen. It's a miracle that I didn't remain petrified all that time and was actually able to accomplish anything.

I think being somewhat of an outcast was more to my benefit. After all, it makes sense to not fit in especially when my ambition was to not be like everybody else. To be motivated in that way has helped me strive towards better circumstances, for instance, getting a college education and completing within a reasonable time frame (in 4 years as opposed to the typical 5+ years that some of my peers took to attain their degrees, if at all).

What's my point? I could go around bitching about what a bad experience I've had in high school or I could relish on the fact that it was actually after high school when life really began for me. The decision is mine and I choose the latter.