Consequences

Here's an unusual way to look at your education, one you've probably never considered before. We'll start with a quick mind game. What if you picked up a cigarette, lit it, inhaled one puff...and immediately fell over dead?

Here's another thought: What if you ate a giant cheeseburger with chili cheese fries, along with a large milkshake, followed by a fudge brownie drenched in ice cream and covered with chocolate sauce...and then immediately fell over dead?

The point is, it doesn't work that way. The cigarette doesn't kill you today, it kills you tomorrow. A diet that's filled only with the menu I described doesn't kill you today, it kills you tomorrow. And because there are no immediate consequences, most people ignore what's happening. If I don't feel any bad effects today, why worry about it, right? That's why people smoke, and why people stuff themselves with foods that have negative long-term effects. If the first cigarette killed you, how many people would light up, right?

You're able to laugh about it now because you could do all of these things today and live through it. Therefore, you automatically assume: I can do this again.

What does any of this have to do with your education? Well, it works the same way. You don't see any immediate consequences today, but you feel the critical effects down the road.

As with smoking, it's easy to disregard what happens tomorrow when you're in the classroom today. So what if I blow off my education? I'm having fun, right? So what if I don't bother to learn this stuff? It's not important, right? So what if I cut class? So what if I make fun of the kids who score good grades? So what...?

Nobody who follows their first cigarette with a second, then a third, ever worries about what happens tomorrow. They're practically guaranteed not only an early death, but one that can be agonizing, both for them and their family. I've seen people who have died from smoking; it's grisly. And sadly, every one of them thought they were as cool as could be when they lit up in high school. If they'd been able to flash-forward and see themselves, suffering with every excruciating breath, they'd never take up the habit.

But they don't see it.

Students who mock education, who worry more about how 'œcool'쳌 they're perceived by their friends, will suffer a different kind of agony. They'll reach adulthood and will have wasted their best chance at a successful life. They'll be left with memories of how cool they were in school, while nobody else cares. If they could somehow see the consequences, if they could somehow understand how one choice ultimately determines so much of their future, then they'd quickly rethink those choices.

But they don't see it.

Do you?

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