Who knew? It’s evening, I’m 57 years old and, as I write this, I’m sitting in an empty SMU classroom waiting these few minutes for class to begin. It’s hardly where I expected to be this Tuesday night. I ought to be home, nearly comatose, swilling beer and munching Doritos while watching “The Godfather” in my skivvies. That, or I ought, at least, to be helping an offspring with his homework.
Who knew after 35 years of corporate life, I’d voluntarily submit to a textbook review of “the time value of money.”
This isn’t my first return to school. Over the years since graduating college, I’ve diligently pursued two advanced degrees, completed two other certificate programs, attended numerous professional seminars and training programs and even stumbled through a few evening French classes with my wife.
I’m truthfully convinced that life is its most rewarding when personal growth is realized through an intense new learning experience.
This time, I suppose, I was partly inspired by my eldest son’s recent enrollment at the University of Colorado. Like SMU, except with mountains, CU is a beautiful campus with a downright intoxicating ambiance. The kid has some great classes and, since our recent check-in weekend, I’ve become convinced he made the right choice. Colorado will definitely provide him with a superb opportunity to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally. It was clear, as the weekend ended, that he saw it, too.
Sheer exhilaration. That’s what sticks from my own first-day experience. It’s a sensation that still resonates for me through the murky fog of a memory now nearly 40 years old. You see, I grew up in a Chicago-area orphanage. There and then, few graduates went on to college. In fact, in 1966, Vietnam was a far more likely destination for us than the University of Illinois. I reached that menacing Asian destination in “olive drab” a deferment for college later.
Without counseling, I sat for one test and filed one application for admission to a college in another state I had never visited. I was stunned and utterly euphoric when the acceptance letter and notice of financial aid arrived.
A few months later, I was discharged from the orphanage. I was 17, a high school graduate and an emancipated minor. With $200 in my pocket, I set off for my rented room near the factory job I found for the summer. Through three seemingly endless months of hot, mind-numbing, production-line work, I hoarded every additional bit of cash I could.
Finally, though, the big day arrived. I packed my only suitcase, checked out of my rented room and bummed a ride from a friend to the train station. The journey I breathlessly anticipated from that car promised an entirely new personal reality – one full of limitless possibilities. As I stepped up to the platform and said my final goodbye, I was certain the trip would change my life forever.
Now, years later, as I wait for my SMU class to begin, I can say with full conviction that those hopeful personal expectations have been largely realized. But, why bother? It sounds so linear in life view – so “first you learn, then you work, then you die” – and so end-of-the-line, at that. I’m a baby boomer – and proudly so – one of 76 million fast approaching a new “third age of man.” We’re living decades longer than our forbearers while fast-approaching 2008, that magical year, actuarially speaking, when the leading edge of the immense tsunami wave we’re riding crashes over the breakwater to “retirement” landfall.
As I approach this sea of change, I’ve come to see that Ken Dychtwald, author of the 1989 book “Age Wave,” was correct – life is cyclic now, not linear. My presence at SMU is the proof. Once again, a new reality full of limitless possibilities lies shortly ahead. Once again, learning presents new opportunities for self-actualization. And, once again, a college classroom provides the setting for a fresh new start.
I suppose this time, it’s less about fulfilling lifetime career aspirations than about exploring one’s authentic center. In the end, I’m happy to be here at SMU for what will hopefully be a stimulating new journey. After all, if a life-long Cub fan can learn to root for White Sox success in post-season play, the possibilities for additional personal growth are boundless.Class is starting now. So, to borrow a now famous quotation from best-selling author and eminent social icon, Larry the Cable Guy, let’s “git-r-done.”
John Behan is an SMU student. He may be contacted at [email protected].
