Here's a toast for the dropouts
/To me, being successful means...
I feel nothing but contempt and frustration toward the use of words like "success" and "failure" being introduced to adolescents. I've always had a huge problem with the idea that from a very young age, I'm supposed to measure my self-worth by my ability to "get stuff done", whether that means fulfilling my own goals or those of someone else. And while this frustration emerged mostly out of a youthful nihilism that I'm beginning to think is endemic to Palo Alto kids, it became even more emboldened as the years went on and I realized a vast amount of my time in the Palo Alto School District was spent disciplining my body and mind rather than liberating my spirit.
People will tell you that there are things you "need" to do to survive in this world, that you have to play the game because you don't want to end up like "them". Don't listen. Your youth is precious. Don't waste it worrying about someone else's idea of "success".
My definition of success has changed not over time.
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