something my dad emailed me. think he wants me to learn some lessons from this message...
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Bill Gates' recent speech at Mount Whitney High School in Visalia,
California, is worthwhile reading for anyone. Love him or hate him, he
sure hit the nail on the head with this one. To anyone with kids of any
age, and to all of us who were kids once, here is some advice Mr. Gates
recently dished out at a speech to the Mount Whitney Student Assembly.

He talked about how feel-good, and politically correct teachings,
created a generation of kids with no concept of reality, and how this
method was setting them up for failure in the real world. He concluded by
outlining the following 11 Rules:

Rule 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it.

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. However, the world
will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you start feeling good
about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $40,000 a year right out of high school, and you won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers at McDonalds should not be beneath your
dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping ...
They called it OPPORTUNITY.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are
now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes
and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save
the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try
delousing the closet in your own bedroom.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with recognizing that there
are winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have
even abolished failing grades, and they'll give you as much time as you
want to get the right answer on an exam. This doesn't bear the slightest
resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off, and
very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. You are
supposed to do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop, and go out and find a job.

Rule 11: Be nice to NERDS. Chances are you will end up working for one.

| Zena caught a falling star on 3:46 pm.