The Way I See It

Perhaps it is Nostalgia for me today that I’m sharing this once again, or simply sentiment. In either case it is from my heart. 2013 seems to be the banner year for me . It is the year I was forced to retire because of my affliction. Those years I spent in the University hold many memories. I had been exclusively given permission to work remotely when I became disabled in 2012. At that time, it was unheard of for a person with my Title to do that. The entire time I held my position was a fascinating turn of events. Although, I myself do not hold an official degree my worth was recognized by those who held the highest ones. They trusted me and having that trust gave me a sense of purpose and a drive which kept going day after day.

I had taught myself over the years and having a visual memory along with a love for History, English, Literature, and Computers, guided my abilities. I also had a strong connection to people from all walks of life. I enjoyed helping them reach their goals and giving them encouragement along the way. Perhaps it might have been a bit of motherly instinct added to the mix, that need I feel to protect and nurture still swirls within my personality. Then again, maybe it was just destiny that placed me there. No matter the reason, it happened and now in this month of May it was ending.

For a very long while, I believed the friendships I had developed with colleagues over those years would continue. In my heart I loved them all like family and treated them as such. However, that fantasy ended a short while afterward. As soon as they stopped needing my assistance they disappeared from my life. One by one they were gone as if I had imagined each one. A few did remain and those few I hold onto dearly because they matter, they care and that caring is mutual. Many more students than colleagues are also contacts to this day. If only these wonderful students one day realize, what they have given me is much more than I could ever reciprocate.

I have been retired for twelve years now. Each day hoping i will wake up and be able to do all the physical things I enjoy the most, but the only enjoyable pleasure I now have is my writing. I’m guilty of taking advantage of this urging ability and hold onto to it as if it were a lifesaver. Actually, I admit most days that statement is a fact.

Below is a memory from May 2013, which I am sharing. I originally wrote it on my official blog. Here is your chance to look inside my mind and heart while discovering who I am on SubStack.

I read an editorial in the NY Daily News on May 28, 2013,  by Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. (http://www.nydn.com) The editorial struck home with me because I have worked in Higher Education for more than twenty years and what Mr. Cohen portrayed is a sentiment that I have held for quite a long time.

Aside from being an administrator in higher education, I am also a parent and aunt of many who have received a college degree.  The position I held at the University bestowed upon me the fortunate circumstance to work with thousands of students and professors from every walk of life and from around the World.  Being associated with them afforded me the luxury of learning something new each day.  The things that they taught me are still  so meaningful to me; and have remained with me throughout my career and life itself.  

It seems to be the appropriate time to write about the things mentioned in the Daily News editorial since in New York, it was May and commencement time for most of the Universities.  The editorial was written to portray the value of a college degree in today’s world and whether or not it was worth it.  I have to agree with Mr. Cohen’s belief that it is.  I have heard many students proclaim that they didn’t understand why they needed their degrees and there were some regrets as they were graduating. As time passed, years floating by,  they came to know that all those classes, the ones they attended and thought they had nothing to do with their chosen careers or jobs, are the classes that taught them to broaden their horizons, think outside the box and better themselves in the future.  

They began to realize that the information that was given to them as college students was vital to the world around them.  Those wondrous tidbits of facts gave them the tools they needed to make this world of ours a better place.  What they may have learned about physics or classics or aesthetics will serve them well as they travel far and wide to apply their knowledge holding a degree in television or radio or teaching or architecture. Some realized this immediately, while the majority took years to fully appreciate the value of a well-rounded Associate or Bachelor or Master degree.

There are those who go directly to a job and simply may not be designed to attend college, that is fine as well, because not everyone has to go to college to be successful in life.  However, those that did have come to appreciate the value of the degrees they have earned.  They would serve themselves well to have pride in their accomplishment and to search for their place in this world with the wisdom they have gained through the knowledge they have earned.

I would be remiss, if I didn’t congratulate all these wonderful college graduates.  They are a large part of the future of my world and the world of all those living today. These graduates will go on to be the next generation of parents, doctors, lawyers, teachers, marketers, financial wizards, creative geniuses, and oh so many more glorious paths in life.   They will be or are parents who will have the insight to raise their children with a thirst for knowledge.

This amazing circle of life will continue because thousands of people will have graduated from higher education during the next month or so.  It won’t matter if they need to take jobs at lower pay scales, the knowledge they have attained and the opportunity given to them is something that everyone should have as an opportunity. A chance to broaden one’s mind and expand their own worlds should be everyone’s chance in life.   A higher education has given many people the power to become higher in life because their minds were filled and empowered from all those classes that had nothing to do with their chosen fields.  I truly hope they are as proud of themselves as a I am for them, past, present and future.  They are my hope for a better world.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL PAST, PRESENT AND FUsTURE GRADUATES!

That is the Way I See It here in Brooklyn,K