Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[darksonic45]

I apologize to mods if this is in the wrong forum/not supposed to be here but

 

 

 

About a year ago, someone posted his views on life and he was studying to be a pharmacist. I believe there were around 9 topics. They were very well written.

 

 

 

I remember one was about good companies and he had the CDC in here and GE as the best company.

 

Another was about relationships

 

The last one I remeber was about disease and Malaria, about how cheap it was to buy pills to help get rid of it.

 

If anyone can tell me some way to find them or post it here I'd appreciate it.

[Nadril]

His name is Trapical, you can do a search on his name to find them I'm sure.

[darksonic45]

His name is Trapical, you can do a search on his name to find them I'm sure.

 

I searched his name but I think they were deleted because I can't seem to find them.

[Intriguing]

They weren't deleted. You just needed to look for them a bit. Though, I'm a bit confused about Day 5..

 

Day 1

 

Day 2

 

Day 3

 

Day 4

 

Day 5

 

Day 6

 

Day 7

 

Day 8

 

Day 9

 

Day 10

[darksonic45]

If it's not one thing it's another -.- ... Man I hate my computer.

 

Can anyone help me out? For most of his post I only see ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ and symbols like that... Anyone?

[Intriguing]

If it's not one thing it's another -.- ... Man I hate my computer.

 

Can anyone help me out? For most of his post I only see ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ and symbols like that... Anyone?

 

Most (or all) of the posts from before the terrorist attack on TIF are like that--it has nothing to do with your computer. Just ignore those parts of it.

[Giordano]

If it's not one thing it's another -.- ... Man I hate my computer.

 

Can anyone help me out? For most of his post I only see ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ and symbols like that... Anyone?

 

Most (or all) of the posts from before the terrorist attack on TIF are like that--it has nothing to do with your computer. Just ignore those parts of it.

 

The entire post is just:

 

 

 

June 16th, 2007 ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ Revelation

 

Day 10

 

 

 

The tenth day. If you are reading this, I am officially 20 years old, born on June 16th, 1987. It is strange to think that I am no longer a teenager That was a crucial point of this series, to bring up some thought provoking arguments in my last days before I leave the infamous ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Åteenager social classÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

 

So the actual text was lost it seems. :(

[Skull]

If it's not one thing it's another -.- ... Man I hate my computer.

 

Can anyone help me out? For most of his post I only see ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ and symbols like that... Anyone?

 

Most (or all) of the posts from before the terrorist attack on TIF are like that--it has nothing to do with your computer. Just ignore those parts of it.

 

The entire post is just:

 

 

 

June 16th, 2007 ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ Revelation

 

Day 10

 

 

 

The tenth day. If you are reading this, I am officially 20 years old, born on June 16th, 1987. It is strange to think that I am no longer a teenager That was a crucial point of this series, to bring up some thought provoking arguments in my last days before I leave the infamous ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Åteenager social classÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

 

So the actual text was lost it seems. :(

 

They take the place of certain characters, such as " ' ". Remove the excess and it should be easy to follow.

[Giordano]

If it's not one thing it's another -.- ... Man I hate my computer.

 

Can anyone help me out? For most of his post I only see ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ and symbols like that... Anyone?

 

Most (or all) of the posts from before the terrorist attack on TIF are like that--it has nothing to do with your computer. Just ignore those parts of it.

 

The entire post is just:

 

 

 

June 16th, 2007 ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ Revelation

 

Day 10

 

 

 

The tenth day. If you are reading this, I am officially 20 years old, born on June 16th, 1987. It is strange to think that I am no longer a teenager That was a crucial point of this series, to bring up some thought provoking arguments in my last days before I leave the infamous ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Åteenager social classÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

 

So the actual text was lost it seems. :(

 

They take the place of certain characters, such as " ' ". Remove the excess and it should be easy to follow.

 

No, as in THATS the entire post. It doesn't show the rest.

[Skull]

[hide=]

If it's not one thing it's another -.- ... Man I hate my computer.

 

Can anyone help me out? For most of his post I only see ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ and symbols like that... Anyone?

 

Most (or all) of the posts from before the terrorist attack on TIF are like that--it has nothing to do with your computer. Just ignore those parts of it.

 

The entire post is just:

 

 

 

June 16th, 2007 ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ Revelation

 

Day 10

 

 

 

The tenth day. If you are reading this, I am officially 20 years old, born on June 16th, 1987. It is strange to think that I am no longer a teenager That was a crucial point of this series, to bring up some thought provoking arguments in my last days before I leave the infamous ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Åteenager social classÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

 

So the actual text was lost it seems. :(

 

They take the place of certain characters, such as " ' ". Remove the excess and it should be easy to follow.

 

No, as in THATS the entire post. It doesn't show the rest.

[/hide]

 

 

 

Oh, got it. Didn't actually click the link tbh.

[Giordano]

:P

 

 

 

But this sucks, I only have one copied down and its the 10th:

 

[hide=10th Thread]

The tenth day. If you are reading this, I am officially 20 years old, born on June 16th, 1987. It is strange to think that I am no longer a teenager That was a crucial point of this series, to bring up some thought provoking arguments in my last days before I leave the infamous teenager social class. Twenty is an interesting age, it actually makes me feel old. I am halfway to 40, heck 40 year olds are like senior citizens where I come from. Not to mention that when I was 5 years old, heck even when I was 12, I thought of a 20-year-olds as mature adults, you know, grown-ups. A 20-year-old does not kid around, he acts and thinks differently, and he does not play, he works.

 

 

 

But thats not true, I feel and think the exact same way I used to. I still kid around, I still think the word poop is funny, and I still play make-believe. I mean, who doesnt fanaticize about what it would be like to drive a cool car, who doesnt day dream about sleeping with Kiera Knightly or Jessica Alba, and who doesnt leave a James Bond movie without subconsciously wishing they were a secret agent with cool gadgets and a license to kill? Is this any more mature than a kid who fanaticizes about dragons or Harry Potter? It is strange to think about life that way, to realize that we are all the same on the inside.

 

 

 

And thus was the first revelation, age is meaningless. I can honestly say that after I had thought about this, I do not look at adults the same. Senior citizens are not old people that are mad at the youth, they are just like me. The only difference is they know their time is limited and they want to share their stories from their youth. And who can blame them? Imagine their life once, they grew up in the 30s, and their parents were from the 1800s! When they were teenagers WWII broke out and millions were taken from the arms of their girls and drafted. They get back home and now need to form an economy that will prevail over the mighty USSR. They do so and excel beyond that. As they turn 70 they move into retirement homes and await death as a nurse cleans their bed pans. Imagine yourself as one of these guys, you fought in WW2, you watched your friends die and you fought hard for the freedom of the world. Now you lie, paralyzed in a bed. Your grand kids come by once a month, (they are sick of your stories of how you fought the Germans, or how you single handedly ran across a battlefield to secure a machine gun post to save the lives of your wounded friends) and instead of talking to you they want to play video game. You see them playing games like Call of Duty in front of you. They play it on a 50-inch HD plasma while your 5-year-old great grandson is texting on his new cell phone that has a bigger screen than your familys living room TV from the 1930. How would you feel? Well, thats how they feel, and thats how we are going to feel in 50 years.

 

 

 

First revelation: Age is meaningless; we are all the same on the inside.

 

 

 

Leading off that was my second revelation. In high school I maintained a fairly high GPA. There were many kids nerdier than I was, but I was defiantly labeled as one of the smart kids which I still dont know if thats an insult or a compliment . Anyway, as I studied and did well in my classes, I was surrounded by people who didnt really care about school. You know the type, the 25% of your class that smoked pot in the bathroom, the girls that only cared about dating, the people that graduate with a 1.8 GPA, and the guys that took like 5 study halls while you took 6 AP classes. Basically, the people that were having the time of their lives while you studied or did homework. But what do parents and teachers tell us? Those people will end up working at a McDonalds, they have no good future.

 

 

 

But wait a minute, how many smart kids are in your class. Certainly not more than 10% of the student body. So what happens to the other 90% of the class? Maybe 5% will be unemployed, another 5% will end up working fast food or some other minimum wage job, and another 20% will get a low paying job like a mechanic or a truck driver. That still leaves 50% of your class though. What do these dumb jocks, hicks, druggies, Goth kids, and promiscuous girls end up doing? Well, just look around you. See your neighbors, your friends parents, your local newscasters, your guidance counselors, and even your teachers. These are not smart kids, half of these people probably didnt even make the honor roll. Like I mentioned in the 1st revelation, when we were little kids we were taught that these people are smart, we were told that these grown ups are mature and have worked hard to get where they are. That really isnt the case for many of them though. When many of you go onto college you will see this. There will be the people who are in the library for hours on end, and then there will be people that spend more time drunk and passed out than they spend in class. Yet both of these people turn out to be college grads. Most jobs dont even ask what was your college GPA, they just want you to have a degree.

 

 

 

Second revelation: While the people with professional jobs (i.e. doctors, lawyers, engineers, software technicians, etc) are quite intelligent, most other adults really are not. The vast majority of them, the people like your high school teachers, probably did things like drinking/drugs/sex in high school.

 

 

 

The same is true for dating. As a Pre-med student I always hear from my business major friends Dude, youre going to get all the women when you become a doctor!. Also, likewise, my parents discouraged dating in High School saying you can do plenty of that once you have a job. You see, the problem is, Med School is 8 more years after college. Im going to be 32 before I actually get the job . Anyway, as I toll over books or study for the MCAT, my business major friends are out partying and sleeping with dozens of hot college girls. My only consolation is that everyone always tells me that in ten years I will be the one that all my friends envy.

 

 

 

I believed this until a little while ago. I live on the lake and it was a beautiful day outside with temps in the 80s. It was the 2nd day of summer vacation and as I sat on my patio in the early afternoon, I was studying for the MCAT in August. I finished a tough chapter and I looked around me. Flying across the water in a nice boat was a guy I knew from high school. He wasnt a very smart guy, all though high school he skipped classes to smoke pot, and he dated a different girl each week. He ended up graduating a pathetic 130th out of 150, but he got into a college (the worst university in the state). He was a communications major at college and from what I gather wants to be a salesman for Nabisco like his dad is. His dad earns a respectable $55,000 a year and his wifes job brings the net total to over $100,000. Now I watch him fly past me, one arm holds a beer, the other is wrapped around the waist of a perky blonde in a bikini. For a moment I grew jealous, than I felt anger. Everyone has always told me work hard and in the end you will get your reward. And so I toiled, studying my butt off each day so I go into a profession that requires that you memorize thinks like the name and function of each of the 206 bones and each of the 650 muscles in the human body. Studying the subject is bad enough, but the job itself is one of the most stressful imaginable. Not only are their downsides such as long hours away from your family, but doctors often get emergency calls in the middle of the night and then they simply have to get up and go to work at 3am, leaving their family behind. When you do work, you do so knowing that the slightest of mistakes will kill your patient. Toss in the fact that you have to perform physical and rectal exams on people that often weigh 400 pounds yea, not so much fun. So why go into medicine. I sat there, MCAT review book in hand, wondering this very question for what ended up being several hours.

 

 

 

Was it the money? No, the money is nice, but I could have earned just as much as a lawyer or with an MBA.

 

Was it the prestige? No, while doctors are respected, so are firemen, teachers, and army veterans; I dont think anyone would go through 24 years of school just to be respected in a community anyway.

 

Will it bring happiness? Perhaps, but I would think happiness would come easier to the guy I mentioned with the 1.9 GPA in high school, the guy that will soon be making $100,000 a year with his wife while working a stress free job and spending more time with family than I ever could

 

Was it the women? No, by the time I am a doctor the people I will be dating will be in their 30s. Everyone knows the best looking women are in the late teens and twenties, and these girls have all slept with the business majors or frat boys in college. If I wanted a career that promised attractive women I would anything that didnt requite a lot of studying and then spent a lot of time in college sleeping with girls until I found one I liked. I know people that have done this actually, a friend of mine slept with 23 girls in one semester, the 23rd girl he liked and they are now engaged, she is gorgeous and he is an art major. Thats a promising career, art. One would like to believe that the best women will hold off from looking for a relationship until they are 30. However this makes no sense, the most attractive girls are the ones that date early, and thus, by the time girls are 30, all the most attractive ones are already married. Im not trying to say that looks are all the matters when choosing a wife, but it is a factor that honestly cannot be ignored.

 

 

 

But I digress, the question still remains, why am I spending 1/3 of my life training for a profession that has no clear advantage over other ones? And thus was my third revelation, and the one that is the namesake of this thread.

 

 

 

Third revelation: Money has no real value in the end

 

 

 

My father is a physician, a psychiatrist to be specific. My mother was a nurse but has long been retired since our family didnt really need her income. Despite the fact that my parents may have been the richest out of my entire high school class, you would never be able to tell. My dad is the stringiest man I have ever seen, I mean for example despite his 250k+ salary, he drives a 1999 Honda Civic. He convinced my mom to only shop at ALDI, the local discount grocer that is cheaper than Wal-Mart; Im pretty sure we are the only people with a car to actually go to that store, and we are among the only customers that pay with something besides food stamps. However, I dont really mind it, and I get used to seeing generic names everywhere in our house. What really bugs me though is when we travel abroad (this only happens after spending about 4 months of constantly checking online prices for the cheapest airfare remotely possible). Anyway, when we go abroad to these third world counties, not only do we stay in these hotels that were made for the locals, but also we seem to be always playing the game lets see just how little we can spend! The worst is when actually do to buy something, because my dad will barter with anybody about anything. Picture this, a family of five Americans is in the middle of a local village in Costa Rica. The people here live on about 5 dollars a week and many of the kids are manumitted, we are there to buy some wooden carving like this one. It is hand carved and took about 20 hours of skilled labor to do. Its price is one dollar. But no, this is too much for my family, and so the bartering begins. Ill take three for two dollars my dad proclaims, this sparks a furious argument where the store owner is near tears saying how his son in hungry and how he spent 3 days to make those. Eventually (after my dad threatens to walk away) we do manage to buy the three carvings for two dollars. I have one of those carvings in my room, but looking at is disgusts me. It represents the fact that a man, my father, would refuse to give one more dollar to an impoverished hard working man. This would be sad enough if my father was a middle class worker, but he isnt, he is an upper class doctor working in the United States of America. Refusing that one extra dollar is pathetic, really it is.

 

 

 

But what does this have to do with my post? Well, it deals with money. Once you have over $20,000 a year you can buy enough food to live just fine. Anything over that is used to buy objects. A mans life is a quest to get more and more objects. I never really understood this for two reasons. First, you only want what you dont have. You think a plasma TV will make it easier to be happy, but once you have it you really dont appreciate it and are already thinking of what else to buy. Secondly, you leave your possessions at your grave. People spend their entire life, saving money and buying things, yet as soon as they die they loose it all. This is actually why I quite RuneScape. Why spend countless hours gaining levels when I will loose all this work when I quit the game? Similarly, whats the point of accumulating vast sums of wealth when you might die any day? We are all mortal, many of us will live and die without really doing anything special with their life, they will grow up, work in retail, have a kid or two, and than die. Living a life that contained nothing that helped that greater society is a waste of a life. And then it hit me thats why Im going into medicine.

 

 

 

Sure the guy in his boat may life a happier life than me in high school and college. He might even live a happier life as an adult. But he works to sell cookies for Nabisco. Not to sound mean, but upon his death the world will not have really lost anyone that was irreplaceable. But other professions, engineers, doctors, diplomats, soldiers they can accomplish things. This revelation of mine, combined with the fact that I swore I wont be a scrooge like my father, has re-inspired me in my field. Therefore, once I get my medical license I plan to spend time in Africa, doing hands on life saving work. I wont make much money in the time I spend there, but I will be doing something that will always be remembered. The lives I save will still be lives I saved after I die, and the children of the people I save will live on, enjoying life and changing the world in their own ways.

 

 

 

As I contemplate these thoughts I look outside, I notice twilight is fast approaching. I live on the lake, but I rarely find the time to enjoy something as simple as a sunset. I step outside and walk down to the water, stopping to stand on our dock and look out at the lake. As I look onto the mirror that is the lakes tranquil surface, the sun begins to set. I turn to see a little dragonfly has landed on me. I dont mind dragonflies, and he seemed at peace resting on me. The sky turns scarlet as the sun dips even lower, and I sit down on a step leading to the water. The little dragonfly jumps off and does a circle before landing right next to me, almost as a person would come and sit down next to their friend. I look at him, and he turns his head to me, then we both look back out the lake. The two of us sit in silence as we relax and take in the scenery, time passes meaninglessly as the lake continues to shed its layers of crimson and fades to the black of night. I marvel at this, I have lived at this house for nine years now but I have never sat and watched this scene before. I ponder if the dragonfly has this thought as well, why dont we do more often? Why dont we just sit back and enjoy life for a few minuets inbetween the hectic, pointless, schedule we go through everyday? Why is everything always in a rush, and why dont people actually enjoy the small things in life? We should do this more often.

 

 

 

 

 

On that note, I leave you. I sincerely hope that you guys enjoyed my little ten day escapade. When I started this series I had 9 threads ready to be used, but as the days progressed I looked at my saved threads and realized they lacked meaning. I threw them all out and instead spent 4-8 hours each day researching and typing the thread for that evening. It was a grueling task that was physically and mentally demanding for reasons beyond my comprehension. As tired as I got though, I kept going, for you guys. As corny as that sounds its true. Over the years I have come to know so many of you, and I didnt want to disappoint anyone. So, as your expectations for me grew, I tried my best to meet and surpass the bar that was set for me. Did I achieve anything with these measly posts on this relatively small forum? Well, in ten days I have tried to open some eyes, share some excitement, and raise some hope. But in truth, people will respond to this thread with gusto for a few days, but like all other threads it will eventually sink to the second and third page, and then disappear forever. I think in the end though, all the hours I spent tolling away at my keyboard will have paid off if I had influenced just one person to forever look at a part of their life differently.

 

 

 

I will not be on these forums very much from now on, but if in anytime in the future any of you would like advise on something, be it social, medical, or philosophical, my email is in my signature. Dont hesitate to drop me a line, although I admit, for the next few days I may not reply

 

 

 

Me and a little dragonfly have prior arrangements.

 

[/hide]

[Kill_Thomas9]

I'm sure if somebody messages him, he has them saved on his computer somewhere. I only ever read 3 of them because I believe I stopped comming here for about a month or something... I forget why...

 

 

 

 

 

Amazingly well written posts. He should go far in life.

[Skull]

I've read enough of his posts to know he's good, but that's just amazing writing right there. I can see why losing that is so bad.

[darksonic45]

:P

 

 

 

But this sucks, I only have one copied down and its the 10th:

 

[hide=10th Thread]

The tenth day. If you are reading this, I am officially 20 years old, born on June 16th, 1987. It is strange to think that I am no longer a teenager That was a crucial point of this series, to bring up some thought provoking arguments in my last days before I leave the infamous teenager social class. Twenty is an interesting age, it actually makes me feel old. I am halfway to 40, heck 40 year olds are like senior citizens where I come from. Not to mention that when I was 5 years old, heck even when I was 12, I thought of a 20-year-olds as mature adults, you know, grown-ups. A 20-year-old does not kid around, he acts and thinks differently, and he does not play, he works.

 

 

 

But thats not true, I feel and think the exact same way I used to. I still kid around, I still think the word poop is funny, and I still play make-believe. I mean, who doesnt fanaticize about what it would be like to drive a cool car, who doesnt day dream about sleeping with Kiera Knightly or Jessica Alba, and who doesnt leave a James Bond movie without subconsciously wishing they were a secret agent with cool gadgets and a license to kill? Is this any more mature than a kid who fanaticizes about dragons or Harry Potter? It is strange to think about life that way, to realize that we are all the same on the inside.

 

 

 

And thus was the first revelation, age is meaningless. I can honestly say that after I had thought about this, I do not look at adults the same. Senior citizens are not old people that are mad at the youth, they are just like me. The only difference is they know their time is limited and they want to share their stories from their youth. And who can blame them? Imagine their life once, they grew up in the 30s, and their parents were from the 1800s! When they were teenagers WWII broke out and millions were taken from the arms of their girls and drafted. They get back home and now need to form an economy that will prevail over the mighty USSR. They do so and excel beyond that. As they turn 70 they move into retirement homes and await death as a nurse cleans their bed pans. Imagine yourself as one of these guys, you fought in WW2, you watched your friends die and you fought hard for the freedom of the world. Now you lie, paralyzed in a bed. Your grand kids come by once a month, (they are sick of your stories of how you fought the Germans, or how you single handedly ran across a battlefield to secure a machine gun post to save the lives of your wounded friends) and instead of talking to you they want to play video game. You see them playing games like Call of Duty in front of you. They play it on a 50-inch HD plasma while your 5-year-old great grandson is texting on his new cell phone that has a bigger screen than your familys living room TV from the 1930. How would you feel? Well, thats how they feel, and thats how we are going to feel in 50 years.

 

 

 

First revelation: Age is meaningless; we are all the same on the inside.

 

 

 

Leading off that was my second revelation. In high school I maintained a fairly high GPA. There were many kids nerdier than I was, but I was defiantly labeled as one of the smart kids which I still dont know if thats an insult or a compliment . Anyway, as I studied and did well in my classes, I was surrounded by people who didnt really care about school. You know the type, the 25% of your class that smoked pot in the bathroom, the girls that only cared about dating, the people that graduate with a 1.8 GPA, and the guys that took like 5 study halls while you took 6 AP classes. Basically, the people that were having the time of their lives while you studied or did homework. But what do parents and teachers tell us? Those people will end up working at a McDonalds, they have no good future.

 

 

 

But wait a minute, how many smart kids are in your class. Certainly not more than 10% of the student body. So what happens to the other 90% of the class? Maybe 5% will be unemployed, another 5% will end up working fast food or some other minimum wage job, and another 20% will get a low paying job like a mechanic or a truck driver. That still leaves 50% of your class though. What do these dumb jocks, hicks, druggies, Goth kids, and promiscuous girls end up doing? Well, just look around you. See your neighbors, your friends parents, your local newscasters, your guidance counselors, and even your teachers. These are not smart kids, half of these people probably didnt even make the honor roll. Like I mentioned in the 1st revelation, when we were little kids we were taught that these people are smart, we were told that these grown ups are mature and have worked hard to get where they are. That really isnt the case for many of them though. When many of you go onto college you will see this. There will be the people who are in the library for hours on end, and then there will be people that spend more time drunk and passed out than they spend in class. Yet both of these people turn out to be college grads. Most jobs dont even ask what was your college GPA, they just want you to have a degree.

 

 

 

Second revelation: While the people with professional jobs (i.e. doctors, lawyers, engineers, software technicians, etc) are quite intelligent, most other adults really are not. The vast majority of them, the people like your high school teachers, probably did things like drinking/drugs/sex in high school.

 

 

 

The same is true for dating. As a Pre-med student I always hear from my business major friends Dude, youre going to get all the women when you become a doctor!. Also, likewise, my parents discouraged dating in High School saying you can do plenty of that once you have a job. You see, the problem is, Med School is 8 more years after college. Im going to be 32 before I actually get the job . Anyway, as I toll over books or study for the MCAT, my business major friends are out partying and sleeping with dozens of hot college girls. My only consolation is that everyone always tells me that in ten years I will be the one that all my friends envy.

 

 

 

I believed this until a little while ago. I live on the lake and it was a beautiful day outside with temps in the 80s. It was the 2nd day of summer vacation and as I sat on my patio in the early afternoon, I was studying for the MCAT in August. I finished a tough chapter and I looked around me. Flying across the water in a nice boat was a guy I knew from high school. He wasnt a very smart guy, all though high school he skipped classes to smoke pot, and he dated a different girl each week. He ended up graduating a pathetic 130th out of 150, but he got into a college (the worst university in the state). He was a communications major at college and from what I gather wants to be a salesman for Nabisco like his dad is. His dad earns a respectable $55,000 a year and his wifes job brings the net total to over $100,000. Now I watch him fly past me, one arm holds a beer, the other is wrapped around the waist of a perky blonde in a bikini. For a moment I grew jealous, than I felt anger. Everyone has always told me work hard and in the end you will get your reward. And so I toiled, studying my butt off each day so I go into a profession that requires that you memorize thinks like the name and function of each of the 206 bones and each of the 650 muscles in the human body. Studying the subject is bad enough, but the job itself is one of the most stressful imaginable. Not only are their downsides such as long hours away from your family, but doctors often get emergency calls in the middle of the night and then they simply have to get up and go to work at 3am, leaving their family behind. When you do work, you do so knowing that the slightest of mistakes will kill your patient. Toss in the fact that you have to perform physical and rectal exams on people that often weigh 400 pounds yea, not so much fun. So why go into medicine. I sat there, MCAT review book in hand, wondering this very question for what ended up being several hours.

 

 

 

Was it the money? No, the money is nice, but I could have earned just as much as a lawyer or with an MBA.

 

Was it the prestige? No, while doctors are respected, so are firemen, teachers, and army veterans; I dont think anyone would go through 24 years of school just to be respected in a community anyway.

 

Will it bring happiness? Perhaps, but I would think happiness would come easier to the guy I mentioned with the 1.9 GPA in high school, the guy that will soon be making $100,000 a year with his wife while working a stress free job and spending more time with family than I ever could

 

Was it the women? No, by the time I am a doctor the people I will be dating will be in their 30s. Everyone knows the best looking women are in the late teens and twenties, and these girls have all slept with the business majors or frat boys in college. If I wanted a career that promised attractive women I would anything that didnt requite a lot of studying and then spent a lot of time in college sleeping with girls until I found one I liked. I know people that have done this actually, a friend of mine slept with 23 girls in one semester, the 23rd girl he liked and they are now engaged, she is gorgeous and he is an art major. Thats a promising career, art. One would like to believe that the best women will hold off from looking for a relationship until they are 30. However this makes no sense, the most attractive girls are the ones that date early, and thus, by the time girls are 30, all the most attractive ones are already married. Im not trying to say that looks are all the matters when choosing a wife, but it is a factor that honestly cannot be ignored.

 

 

 

But I digress, the question still remains, why am I spending 1/3 of my life training for a profession that has no clear advantage over other ones? And thus was my third revelation, and the one that is the namesake of this thread.

 

 

 

Third revelation: Money has no real value in the end

 

 

 

My father is a physician, a psychiatrist to be specific. My mother was a nurse but has long been retired since our family didnt really need her income. Despite the fact that my parents may have been the richest out of my entire high school class, you would never be able to tell. My dad is the stringiest man I have ever seen, I mean for example despite his 250k+ salary, he drives a 1999 Honda Civic. He convinced my mom to only shop at ALDI, the local discount grocer that is cheaper than Wal-Mart; Im pretty sure we are the only people with a car to actually go to that store, and we are among the only customers that pay with something besides food stamps. However, I dont really mind it, and I get used to seeing generic names everywhere in our house. What really bugs me though is when we travel abroad (this only happens after spending about 4 months of constantly checking online prices for the cheapest airfare remotely possible). Anyway, when we go abroad to these third world counties, not only do we stay in these hotels that were made for the locals, but also we seem to be always playing the game lets see just how little we can spend! The worst is when actually do to buy something, because my dad will barter with anybody about anything. Picture this, a family of five Americans is in the middle of a local village in Costa Rica. The people here live on about 5 dollars a week and many of the kids are manumitted, we are there to buy some wooden carving like this one. It is hand carved and took about 20 hours of skilled labor to do. Its price is one dollar. But no, this is too much for my family, and so the bartering begins. Ill take three for two dollars my dad proclaims, this sparks a furious argument where the store owner is near tears saying how his son in hungry and how he spent 3 days to make those. Eventually (after my dad threatens to walk away) we do manage to buy the three carvings for two dollars. I have one of those carvings in my room, but looking at is disgusts me. It represents the fact that a man, my father, would refuse to give one more dollar to an impoverished hard working man. This would be sad enough if my father was a middle class worker, but he isnt, he is an upper class doctor working in the United States of America. Refusing that one extra dollar is pathetic, really it is.

 

 

 

But what does this have to do with my post? Well, it deals with money. Once you have over $20,000 a year you can buy enough food to live just fine. Anything over that is used to buy objects. A mans life is a quest to get more and more objects. I never really understood this for two reasons. First, you only want what you dont have. You think a plasma TV will make it easier to be happy, but once you have it you really dont appreciate it and are already thinking of what else to buy. Secondly, you leave your possessions at your grave. People spend their entire life, saving money and buying things, yet as soon as they die they loose it all. This is actually why I quite RuneScape. Why spend countless hours gaining levels when I will loose all this work when I quit the game? Similarly, whats the point of accumulating vast sums of wealth when you might die any day? We are all mortal, many of us will live and die without really doing anything special with their life, they will grow up, work in retail, have a kid or two, and than die. Living a life that contained nothing that helped that greater society is a waste of a life. And then it hit me thats why Im going into medicine.

 

 

 

Sure the guy in his boat may life a happier life than me in high school and college. He might even live a happier life as an adult. But he works to sell cookies for Nabisco. Not to sound mean, but upon his death the world will not have really lost anyone that was irreplaceable. But other professions, engineers, doctors, diplomats, soldiers they can accomplish things. This revelation of mine, combined with the fact that I swore I wont be a scrooge like my father, has re-inspired me in my field. Therefore, once I get my medical license I plan to spend time in Africa, doing hands on life saving work. I wont make much money in the time I spend there, but I will be doing something that will always be remembered. The lives I save will still be lives I saved after I die, and the children of the people I save will live on, enjoying life and changing the world in their own ways.

 

 

 

As I contemplate these thoughts I look outside, I notice twilight is fast approaching. I live on the lake, but I rarely find the time to enjoy something as simple as a sunset. I step outside and walk down to the water, stopping to stand on our dock and look out at the lake. As I look onto the mirror that is the lakes tranquil surface, the sun begins to set. I turn to see a little dragonfly has landed on me. I dont mind dragonflies, and he seemed at peace resting on me. The sky turns scarlet as the sun dips even lower, and I sit down on a step leading to the water. The little dragonfly jumps off and does a circle before landing right next to me, almost as a person would come and sit down next to their friend. I look at him, and he turns his head to me, then we both look back out the lake. The two of us sit in silence as we relax and take in the scenery, time passes meaninglessly as the lake continues to shed its layers of crimson and fades to the black of night. I marvel at this, I have lived at this house for nine years now but I have never sat and watched this scene before. I ponder if the dragonfly has this thought as well, why dont we do more often? Why dont we just sit back and enjoy life for a few minuets inbetween the hectic, pointless, schedule we go through everyday? Why is everything always in a rush, and why dont people actually enjoy the small things in life? We should do this more often.

 

 

 

 

 

On that note, I leave you. I sincerely hope that you guys enjoyed my little ten day escapade. When I started this series I had 9 threads ready to be used, but as the days progressed I looked at my saved threads and realized they lacked meaning. I threw them all out and instead spent 4-8 hours each day researching and typing the thread for that evening. It was a grueling task that was physically and mentally demanding for reasons beyond my comprehension. As tired as I got though, I kept going, for you guys. As corny as that sounds its true. Over the years I have come to know so many of you, and I didnt want to disappoint anyone. So, as your expectations for me grew, I tried my best to meet and surpass the bar that was set for me. Did I achieve anything with these measly posts on this relatively small forum? Well, in ten days I have tried to open some eyes, share some excitement, and raise some hope. But in truth, people will respond to this thread with gusto for a few days, but like all other threads it will eventually sink to the second and third page, and then disappear forever. I think in the end though, all the hours I spent tolling away at my keyboard will have paid off if I had influenced just one person to forever look at a part of their life differently.

 

 

 

I will not be on these forums very much from now on, but if in anytime in the future any of you would like advise on something, be it social, medical, or philosophical, my email is in my signature. Dont hesitate to drop me a line, although I admit, for the next few days I may not reply

 

 

 

Me and a little dragonfly have prior arrangements.

 

[/hide]

 

Thank you, now for the other 9. ;)

 

 

 

I've read enough of his posts to know he's good, but that's just amazing writing right there. I can see why losing that is so bad.

It's weird, I had these all saved but never read them and when my computer got reformatted, these writings were the only files I actually remembered in all my HD and hated to lose them.

 

(They actually made me tear up after the 10th day because of how much it opened my eyes and how the tenth was the final one and I'm sure it did the same to many others.)

[llcoolguy972]

Heh, I was searching for those topics like last week. Kinda strange someone else would be looking for them now, too. All of them were incredibly well written, and I really enjoyed reading them. I wanted to save them, but for some reason never did. -.-

[deloriagod]

I'm sure if somebody messages him, he has them saved on his computer somewhere. I only ever read 3 of them because I believe I stopped comming here for about a month or something... I forget why...

 

 

 

Last I knew Trapical rarely came around here. I have a feeling if anyone messages him it will be a very long time before they get a response, if they ever manage to get one.

[darksonic45]

I'm sure if somebody messages him, he has them saved on his computer somewhere. I only ever read 3 of them because I believe I stopped comming here for about a month or something... I forget why...

 

 

 

Last I knew Trapical rarely came around here. I have a feeling if anyone messages him it will be a very long time before they get a response, if they ever manage to get one.

 

I messaged him (his last login wasn't very long ago) and if he has them (with his permission) will post it here for you guys or hopefully he'll see this thread and see how many people want them and post it for all of us :thumbsup: Here's to hopin.

[deloriagod]

I'm sure if somebody messages him, he has them saved on his computer somewhere. I only ever read 3 of them because I believe I stopped comming here for about a month or something... I forget why...

 

 

 

Last I knew Trapical rarely came around here. I have a feeling if anyone messages him it will be a very long time before they get a response, if they ever manage to get one.

 

I messaged him (his last login wasn't very long ago) and if he has them (with his permission) will post it here for you guys.

 

 

 

Ah, it seems you're right. I suppose I never notice him because he makes maybe 3 or 4 posts per month :-k

[Cup Lion]

I'll take note to read them when they are posted. I read part of the 10th thread, and it is very interesting.

[darksonic45]

I'll take note to read them when they are posted. I read part of the 10th thread, and it is very interesting.

 

They're all just as interesting and amazing, I feel bad for the people who weren't able to read it when he posted them a year ago.

[Ginger_Warrior]

I believe all them funny symbols came about when we moved to the phpBB3 format. I think they're supposed to be hide tags. The hide tags developed after we switched over are not the same code as the hide tags before.

 

 

 

Presumably, everything inside the hide tags got mushed up into those symbols too.

[dsavi]

The crap in the posts has to do with non-latin character encoding, or so I'm told.

 

 

 

Don't ask me what that is.

[Will H]

Wow, these seem to be great posts, I do hope that they have been saved at least somewhere!

[silver_wits]

probably google's cache. they save everything.

[dsavi]

probably google's cache. they save everything.

 

It has most likely been overwritten with the new version. The link stays the same, so it's updated.