Malcolm Gladwell

Today, I was one of probably 2,000 students who lined up early and waited in the cold just to hear Malcolm Gladwell give a guest lecture. If you don't know who he is, he's a writer for the New Yorker and author of 3 very famous best selling books. If you haven't read them yet, I highly recommend them, but back to the story!

They introduced him as a man who did so bad in school that he had a hard time getting jobs. People didn't think much of him. But he was good at one thing and he excelled at it - writing. He started conservatively and moved up until he wrote a few books. Time magazine listed him as one of its 100 most influential people (2005). People from CEOs to soldiers to college students relate to his works, and he has a powerful name known amongst book readers, philosophers, political figures, economists, psychologists...etc you get the point.

His whole speech was about two married anthropologist, alcoholic studies, and Yale. It was interesting, but not really important to me. At the end, he talked about how the NFL would probably not be a sport in the next 50 years, and especially not at Penn in 10-15 years (I'm writing this to see if he's right. OOPS, I'm diverging again.

The point is, this all got me thinking. I'm currently deciding between doing Teach for America or waiting for other job opportunities. They're both wonderful job opportunities, but one comes with more security, the other, more experience in an industry I'd like to eventually go into. One promises a life's experience that you cannot get anywhere else, the other promises good pay and a sure path into areas of business that I'm interested in. Teach for America calls everyday about how joining them is the best decision anyone's ever made and the other doesn't care if I join or not because so many people apply to be with them. I'm lost, because I feel like any decision I make will be a big, life-long decision.

But I looked at Malcolm Gladwell today and I wondered... when he did so bad in school and couldn't get many jobs, did he think he would have this much influence? I mean, the guy made the Goldstone Forum famous in one day after 10 years of small numbers. This year, people were standing in the back just to see him.

I'm not saying that success in that way is good. I'm not saying you should be that influential and that life is about all the attention. But I AM realizing that no matter what happens, what decision I make, that I will probably be okay :-).

I need to learn to trust God more.

This was a rant.

Good night. Retreat tomorrow :-D