Holy Crap
Jon is leaving the military. I can hope that his September release may be fortuitous enough to result in a celebratory road trip recapturing the glory of years past but I suspect the timing has a far more nefarious agenda.
Academia.
Well I suppose if Tommy Lee can do it…
Thankfully Psychology is not his fixation this time. Funny how despite having access to the weapons of war for years it’s the abandonment of a goal I once described as a 6-year-old with a hand grenade that sets my mind at ease.
Well, maybe more than once.
But I am of course kidding. But on a serious note those who do nothing but kid and belabour his efforts and commitment are no better than those who’ve belittled my parenting potential. They both suck equally and for the same reason, taking a popular but tired and hurtful route.
He’s been talking about going back to school for a long time now. He was talking about an English major so he can have a teachable subject to become a high school educator but EVERY liberal arts major says that at some point. I did. So after chatting I think I helped him refine his idea into a History major.
It makes perfect sense. His naval service would serve him well but more than anything Jon is one hell of a storyteller. If anyone can make history come alive…and besides English is way harder and dryer than most people suspect. It’s not that he couldn’t do it, he’d just hate it.
But he always hated school. Well, the more academic classes anyways. However he does, like me, have a passion for educating his staff.
Seriously, my SET sessions are more stand up comedy than anything, can you imagine what Jon would do with the same material? Frankly I’m glad not to have the competition lest I lose my title as my company’s highest scored instructor.
Yes after all the nay-saying I’m sure Jon could use some rah-rah support but that’s not what this is. He can find his “you can do anything tiger” support elsewhere, I tell it like it is and I say the evidence points to him obtaining this goal with ease.
But…
There’s always a but.
What of the self-insulating stagnation of academia? The old boy’s club, the give-us-the-answer-we-want-the-way-we-say-not-what’s-right mentality? The institutionalization? Can Jon work within the system that seems to abhor innovation, strong personalities, and paradigm crushers? Those great traits of his I blogged about so recently.
I see one of 3 possible outcomes.
1. He knuckles under and they break him. Unlikely but stranger things have happened. Result: Jon’s a drone, the world’s a darker place, Big Brother keeps a watchful eye, and SkyNet kills us all.
2. He gives up on the teaching goal but still gets a degree and scores a wicked job in the private sector. He managed a Radio Shack without any school or experience, imagine what he could do now. Result: Jon, Burton, and I take over the world, first-class holidays and champagne for all.
3. He decides to work within the system to support his subversive agenda of fun, comedy, and practical competence. He’d probably spend most of his career simultaneously on the verge of being fired and receiving top honours. Result: Jon changes the system, Canada becomes a powerhouse economy based on a skilled workforce and teen suicide is eliminated.
Even the worst of those is better than him buying the farm in World War III.
