Give up to get

"You have to spend money to make money."

Not sure who said that first but I know Nathan Lane said it in the movie Mouse Hunt, and it is very true, but doesn't really create an acurate imagery for what it really means.

Here is what really means.....

I just recently got all the paperwork in order to do my taxes and the most amazing number out of all these numbers is what I paid in qualifing expenses for higher education. I took 7 credit hours and paid over 2800 dollars for it all. Between that money and how much I have already spent this year I could of paid off over 13% of all my debts and even paid off my credit card balence so that the account could finally be closed. Instead I have paid this money in to education for nothing more then the hope that when I graduate I can find a better job and a better life.

It is amazing to think about everything that I have given up for my education and when you consider that everyone in college makes these decisions on some level and at sometime you really have to wonder if any of us are sane.

Think about it. College students spend big bucks to go to school for something that is not a guarentee, just a better possibility, while giving up the money they could of made working for those 4 years, sometimes longer. They study long hours and give up alot of their lives for education.

Before anyone would say different I would like to direct your attention to a new study that came out recently showing that college life is not the party fest it used to be and that college students now feel they are under more pressure then ever before. Not only are we giving up alot in terms of money but we are giving up alot in terms of personal happiness too, all because we have all been lead to believe education is the key to sucess.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think now the reason why I contiune to pay and give up time money and my personal life to the cause of education is to prove my self to people that had written me off as a wash out. I don't really believe, anymore, that education is the key to a better life, just that I don't want others to judge me in a negative light just because I didn't make it.

I know people keep saying that I am only 29 and I have my whole life yet to look forward to so I shouldn't give up now, but really at some point wouldn't rather be happy with things rather getting your happiness, or sorrow handed to you in form of a graded test?

What are you giving up, and what do you think you will get from it? Can you be sure you will get it, and what if you don't? Will you still be able to get anywhere in life, or will you wind up spending the next 30 years paying back all the costs of your wasted education?