Lessons I Learned From The Cradle Of The Grave, Life Never Stops Overwhelming Us With Information

From the cradle to the grave, life never stops overwhelming us with information. What we hold true today, may be irrelevant tomorrow. Despite constant advancements in science and technology, a few lessons will stay with us forever. We each learned nine times nine is eighty-one, and the Fourth of July will always be Independence Day. What of the lessons we learn through hardship, from the kindness of classmates, lessons not found in the teacher’s lesson planner? Throughout our educational lives, we learned myriads of facts, but specific experiences influenced us and made us who we are. We each grew up with unique backgrounds, teachers and environments, so we each took away different lessons. That we still subscribe to these lessons is a testament to the impact they had on our lives. From my schooling, I learned about being prepared, questioning authority and learning from my failures.

Firstly, I learned about being prepared the hard way. As a high school sophomore, I was promoted to the varsity football squad halfway through the season. The coaches made it clear that my promotion had been just to familiarize me with the varsity system. I never expected to see any playing time as a third-string quarterback, so I never studied the playbook. In hindsight, that was a mistake. Not even the fact the starting quarterback had been injured late in the season brought up any red flags. On a fall Friday night, under the gaze of hundreds of eyes in a half-empty football stadium, that particular game would teach me a lesson I would never forget. Early in the fourth quarter, on a routine quarterback sneak, the backup quarterback went down for the night. I was immediately thrown into the game where I proceeded to humiliate myself in front of hu...

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...ost importantly, I realized that I could turn my failures into successes. Analyzing and understanding why I failed allowed me to eventually learn the material and pass the class.

Education is a lifelong endeavor, but it’s during our formative school years where we learn our most important lessons. These lessons, while learned when young, stay with us for the rest of our lives. As college students, we can call on these lessons to help us when adversity presents itself. Being prepared can be the difference between failing or passing a final exam. Learning to question authority could someday lead us to challenge something we know is incorrect. Learning from our failures and understanding our shortcomings, is crucial to our success as college students. Consequently, we can apply these lessons to other areas of our lives, after all, life will never stop overwhelming us.