Found this quote in a fun Salon article by way of Cameron.
"Going from this phone pool to that, slacking off in school, living for the now, and swimming in the tepid victories of the past, never giving a moment's consideration to the fact that I might outlive my lethargic happiness."
'Swimming in the tepid victories of the past' that's awesome...
I have this theory that the world catches up. At some point no matter how smart you think you are, without continued effort, the world will catch up to you - no matter what your natural talent is.
I was a smart 5th grader. I was in advanced reading classes, the top math group, tested well on whatever the standardized flavor of that year was etc. Turns out being a smart 5th grader doesn't really last that long. Sure it helped me coast through Jr. High, by high school I didn't worry about grades anymore. As for college, perhaps it helped me do well enough on college entrance exams that I got into, well, got into a small private liberal arts college that was basically just happy to have another paying customer. There I met people much, much smarter than me, they were probably smarter in 5th grade too, but even still, they kept at it, kept working, kept expanding their brains where I tended to "swim in the tepid victories of the past" - and how much more tepid could being a smart 5th grader be? Still, I limped through in my "lethargic happiness".
Yes indeed, the world catches up - and passes by. Can't rest on the past. I better get busy...
Posted by heyhansen at January 13, 2004 04:24 PM