11 Rules of Bill Gates

Can the Rules of Living be found
in these books?

I was doing some MCAT passages when I ran into Bill Gates' thought-provoking rules. Apparently, he "talked about how feel-good politically correct teachings have created a generation of kids who have no concept of reality and how this lack of a concept sets them up for failure in the real world." I see truth in his ways of thinking, so consider this a reality-check. Sugar-coating reality is quite lethal, don't you think?

• Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it.

• Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

• Rule 3: You will not make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. 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 till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

• Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not 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 parent's fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

• 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 parasite of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

• Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades, and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

• Rule 9: Life is not divided into semester. You don't get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. You have 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 to jobs.

• Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. 

I realize myself doing or not doing certain aspects proposed by these rules, which are quite practical and applicable to me as a young adult freshly out of college. I don't think these rules only work for a certain population at a certain age but should be considered universally to everyone. At the moment, I still can't believe that I graduated. Indeed, I still call these months my summer breaks, which makes me startled every times someone asks me about my plan post-grad. "Uhm... after the summer break, I'm taking the MCAT this September... uhm... probably find a job somewhere before applying to the med school." I'm still scared though. I want to get on my own feet taking care of my future before I can take care of anyone/anything else that needs me. Sitting at home studying might sound stagnant but dear World I am getting out there. *sigh*