Thomas Sowell

In HS I was interested in Science and Arts. 

But the notion to pursue Arts was squashed early on when in Art class I got the same grade as Ryan, who, in my opinion, was only okay in class. Throughout the semester he would consult me on everything he was working on... getting ideas and making sure if what he created was ok, asking for my suggestions. I thought, ok ... but can't he just leave me alone and work on stuff himself, like I did and just be confident in what he made as long as he actually liked it himself? I realized how subjective Art felt to me after that. And to put out something I personally liked and created and to be judged on it based on someone else's preference did not make sense to me. Plus the idea back then that your work will be worth more after you die seemed pretty morbid. 

In HS I was never interested in Business nor Politics. Business I could see where that could lead but politics? I thought that would only lead to a person being a politician and my opinion of them back then were that they were very self serving and a bunch of liars. So, no thanks. 

Only until I finished my professional education and started working full time in the workforce, government funded at that, did I start to question so many things, so many systems. Things just did not make sense to me. Input and outcome. What was the purpose of the input? In theory it sounded great but the outcome which I saw first hand was not the result. Frustrated and mind boggled for years I just continued on until I started talking to a couple colleagues of mine. One in private practice and one in the public sector. Their answers had the same theme. MONEY. 

And just like that, as much as I resisted politics and I noticed it was slowly insidiously imbedding itself into my life since being in the work force, I realized I stepped right into it and was knee deep. Well that's shitty. 

Anyhow, this reminded me of that a bit, Thomas being on one path until he worked in a certain place and saw from the inside how systems work, or ...dont work. 

This is a long episode but very interesting.