Life's Not Fair!

Last night I was watching Countdown and an interesting story caught my attention. It was about this boy who decided he wanted to join the military. Five weeks into basic training he decided that we wanted to go home. He was miserable! Apparently during basic the instructors were singling him out and wouldn't stop picking on him.

Want to know why they singled him out?

They did it because he was the weakest member in the group and he knew it! Well duh! Of course you're going to be singled out. Did he expect to be told that he tried his best so that was okay? The whole purpose of basic training is to improve whatever skills you may already have, present you with new ones, and teach you how to work in a cohesive group environment. It is not to coddle and say 'well you tried.' If those instructors did that they would have failed to train their recruit with the skills necessary for him to survive in a war. If you shoot at someone and miss they are not going to look at you and say 'well you tried' and let you capture them; he's going to shoot you back and you'd better hope his aim is as good as yours.

We see this mentality on American Idol too. Kids go into the audition rooms expecting to be told that they are the best thing ever. Then they are surprised when Randy, Paula, and Simon don't agree. Most of them can't even accept the constructive criticism the judges try to give, instead they blow off the opinions of experts and go on thinking their dilusional thoughts. It doesn't help that their parents wait in the hallways yelling at the cameras that their kid deserves the chance to prove themselves and that the judges don't know what they are talking about. Hello! That's what an audition is, a chance to prove you've got what it takes. If you don't make it, you go home, practice, and try again next year. Oh, but that requires too much work.

How did this life should be easy mentality get so out of control? I was always told the life wasn't fair and life wasn't easy. I was rejected many times before I was accepted. I have worked hard to get where I am and I know that still I have a long journey ahead. That's the beauty of being in my twenties.

(I know there is more to the military story and I will address that in another blog tomorrow!)