Lessons I have Learned
It isn’t about the money
Before I flew in to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), when I was very young, an elder person had given me a 1 Rupee paper note.
After that individual gave the money, he had said something upsetting. Insulting to me. I didn’t even bother to respond. I went to the nearby trashcan, ripped the note, threw the money in the trashcan and walked away.
Change on the ground
I was living at an apartment in Irvine, CA, I was about 8 or 9 years old, and in the parking lot of the apartment building, as well as sometimes on the sidewalks, I would find change on the ground.
I was like, “This is so cool”.
And eventually I realized, why should I wait to find money? Why should I depend on luck? So, I, along with a friend, would go from door to door selling fruits and vegetables.
Reason?
In the 1980s, adult people living in apartment buildings were not always the most organized, and so, inevitably, they would forget something from the grocery store. And they wouldn’t want to go back and waste gas to get the missing item. We realized this and made money.
The View
At my elementary school, there were really tall bars that went up to about 22 ft. into the air. The design was kind of like what is seen.
The four support bars go out from the central bar. I would inch up to the top, where, being that far up, I would, somehow, climb around to sit at the top, the circle you see there.
There I got a view of the soccer field. Whenever there was a soccer game, the view on top of the bar was the best there was of the game. And I realized very quickly to not get too carried away in the game because it was a long drop to the ground, falling right into the sand. I learned in my youth to respect gravity. A lesson learned before understanding what it was that brought people high up to the ground.
Delivering Newspapers
I think I was about 12 when I delivered newspapers for the Press Enterprise in Riverside, CA.
There would be a stack of newspapers dropped off at about 4:00 am, and I would get up by 5:00, fold them with the help of my grandfather, put all of the folded newspapers in my bicycle bag, then on the bicycle, and deliver the newspapers before I had to go to school.
Then, after a few months, I was naive and so young, I actually asked my Dad to buy me a new bicycle.
He says to me, “I will drive you to the sports store, you save enough, and you can buy your own new bicycle”.
I did not ask after that. Years later, I did not even ask for my Toyota Paseo. He wanted to put the down payment in 1994 for it. That lesson was learned. I trained myself to be independent, to work hard, to learn, to not steal, to earn on my own. I didn't look back too long to that time again.
Apollo 13
Watch the movie. NASA's greatness is what is missing in America. Not any technical guidebook, not a SOP, not the Bible, absolutely nothing trained the scientists to bring the astronauts safely home from space. The ingenuity of the scientists, their capability, to fight all challenges that faced them, and it wasn't even their life the outcome of which was depended on. It was the life of American astronauts that put their trust in the ability of the scientists.
Lesson I learned: Build your team with the best of the best.
University of California, Riverside (UCR)
There was a Russian international student who was studying Computer Science, and he, as well as a few other people, were in the computer lab.
I talked to him, didn’t know at first he was from Russia, and after I knew, I get into an article about Garry Kasparov and a supercomputer that was trained by engineers to play chess against the world’s best.
So I say in 2000 at UCR, “You know the Russian Garry Kasparov, he was playing chess against that supercomputer that one time and I don’t know he just seemed to play a better game and it was reported that the supercomputer was helped by Israeli grandmasters and I was like you know that has to be true because have you seen him play so you know they interfered...” Pause.
And the Russian leans in and is about to say something, what he’s thinking, then he suddenly realizes he is in a computer lab, in Riverside, California, in the United States of America... and then he gives a general answer.
Lesson from the Russian: Always know the laws of the land you are in, and more importantly, know what you’re about to say. Because you might not realize whom you are talking to.
Friends
Joey responds to the character played by Susan Sarandon saying she could have made it big if she went to Mexico, she can't believe she was let go from the TV serial, she would have been a huge actress in Guadalajara, so Joey goes, “The airport?”
“No, no. That's La Guardia.”
In real life, I have a friend in the Coast Guard, went to high school with him, name Taylor. There's an episode of Friends where Joey and Rachel are out in the harbor in New York. Joey yells out, “Get out of the way, who names their boat coast guard anyway?”
Rachel says, “That would be the United States Coast Guard.”
Joey, “Well, what are they doing way out there? The coast (New York harbor) is right there.”
Lesson learned: Like Reagan, sometimes humor explains the really complicated. NYC baby. You gotta love New York.
108 able Americans 18 or older should know
Not overthink.
Deliberate.
Turn off the water supply if there's a water leak, e.g. the kitchen sink.
Know a foreign language.
Understand not all people in the world think like Americans, even if they're U.S. citizens.
There's usually different ways and perspectives to look at things.
Know that satellites are able to read the time on your non-digital watch, if necessary.
Security involves sacrifice.
Everything that concerns the majority isn't about the minority.
When you do not respect another person, it is easier mentally to hurt them.
What you do not respect in a person, it will be easier for you to deal with when the person dies.
Simple psychology about ourselves is often the most difficult to understand.
If you go to jail, you should have an emergency number memorized.
Getting blamed for something is more attractive to most than giving credit.
If you do the right thing, the darkness doesn't last forever.
If you do not have motivation, you will soon feel dejected in the work you have to do. As in, “I have to go to work.”
What looks natural is learned through years of perseverance.
Patience is a friend in non-emergency situations.
Know the definition of confidence.
Be able to turn the switch if the breaker trips.
Know where the electricity panel is in your home.
Know that the American dream is alive and well.
Know that if you are not successful in something, it isn't always because of your actions or wrong actions. Sometimes failure has more to do with like a bird flying away, a love unreturned.
To pine for something is just as human as to have loved and lost.
Our actions are based on what we think and believe in, not necessarily in what we deliberate.
Feelings in some situations can be important as logic.
Test is your knowledge at the time.
Most of the time a test can be retaken.
Suicide is not an answer.
Ask yourself what you look forward to.
Know that most of our life is spent with people we hardly know or will not know for life.
Know how to sew.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Karma is very real.
Man proposes.
God disposes.
If you plan something for a long time, know that the chance of rain increases. Unless what you were planning to do was dance in the rain.
Know how technology works.
Technology didn't love Bill Gates nor did it create him.
Bill Gates loved technology and created what the foundation is today.
Man made the money. Money never made the man.
Baby-daddy is a slang word for life-long irresponsibility.
If you think money is all-powerful, use it to turn back time for 1 second.
The news is a story someone else is telling you.
Hitting first doesn't mean a war's won.
There is no such thing as last man standing.
People don't think about their death in the future as much as they ought to.
Nothing is permanent.
Not even the sun.
In about 40,000,000 years the sun will undergo a reaction and its size will increase, making life on Earth uninhabitable.
Know how to write. People that are letter-counters/word-counters are just people that cannot compete and don't like the truth in writing.
Know what you're writing.
Knowledge is powerful but not all-powerful.
Sometimes we know things we wish we didn't need to write about.
If you hit someone, then expect to get hit back.
Change the car tire.
How an airplane works.
Be able to run in the cold in case something happens to your car and there's no network on your device.
There was a point in time where having 1 car in an American family was considered a luxury.
Getting accustomed to something usually leads to disaster.
Break out of your routine every once in a while.
Caffeine is a non-living thing which a living thing revolves their life around.
How a car works.
Put windshield wiper fluid.
Know that when Superman catches Lois Lane and he's carrying her back to the top of the New York building and says “don't worry I got you”, she goes “you've got me?, who's got you?” is funny.
Know that money isn't all-powerful, it cannot turn back time, not even Clark Kent/Superman can... when Lois Lane dies, life, it is ephemeral, temporary, so, getting angry, blaming others, blaming the world when a loved one dies, making the Earth spin backwards, what he did to bring his Lois back to life... what's gonna happen when Lois Lane gets old, just a really long Groundhog Day, so money isn't all-powerful, life is a treasure.
America 1990s teaches you things like, you see that neighbor?, that one there?, that little bitty Iraqi neighbor way over there?, yeah, yeah I see him, ok, good, because he ain't responsible for your shit.
Easy decisions now.
Tough life later.
Know that the majority of the world consider America, China and Russia as the top 3.
The higher you go, the tougher it gets.
A life not lived for others isn't well-lived.
A female that knows how to shoot a basketball is attractive to real men.
A male that can defend is better than a man always going on the offense.
We don't need to know everything to take an action on something.
We don't know when Plato was born but we do know his writing.
Philosophy is only useful when basic security is met.
Poor people living with insecurity usually make society insecure.
Know how farms work.
When you do not give credit to the person who pays your bills, well, pretty soon they stop paying.
If the thought occurs to you that you might need help, the second thought, if you're humble, will be of the go-to expert. And the first expert you think of is usually the one you need.
Know yourself.
The unspoken word is golden.
There are those who die at the age of 25 but aren't buried till the age of 75.
Read a book. It's like someone is talking to you.
Make sure the book you read is good. It makes it so much more interesting.
Sometimes not taking public actions creates better outcomes.
Enjoy the different views life has to offer.
There's more than one flavor of ice cream.
Petty people enjoy petty jokes.
If you are played so easily, guess who else's been played?
In transactional types of relationships, you can either be the cop or Kaiser Soze (KS) like the movie “The Usual Suspects”.
If you feel like the storyteller keeps revealing things you didn't know before, maybe it is easier to keeping believing what you were told before.
Not everything you need in life is an actual need.
There is enough in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.
To each his own.
Putting down people with lies by unfounded egos, lies aren't independently verified, is usually for two reasons: jealousy or not able to compete.
Having power over women is not something to be proud of.
There is an old story where a poor couple want to get each other a gift. The man sells his hat to buy a bonnet. The woman cuts her long hair and sells it to buy a raincoat. Each trying to give the other a valuable gift on their anniversary. Be that couple.
If any politician is number 1 in the world, then why do they use women for political cover? The reason are a few but if an Indian thinks of certain people as nation-builders and the imperial American politician understands one of those people can make or break....
Machiavelli: Everyone sees what you are, very few know you.
Sometimes it is better to live for yourself, unless a child/children are involved.
Never underestimate the love of an independent mother.
The female is always willing to sacrifice her life so her child lives.
The male not as much.
Never underestimate the love of a father.
Empires have been built and broken based on upbringing.
Be true.