I DON'T wanna be a BILLIONAIRE, so freakin' bad...

I don't want to be a BILLIONAIRE because I know better. Pure and simple. My ego is doing just fine without a ton of Ben Franklins to throw around like confetti. Nevertheless, there is a demographic of US citizens out there that can identify with craving money as if it were the only drug worth abusing. With songs like "Billionaire," where Bruno Mars croons in the chorus how badly he wants it, (which bee-tee-dubs is sung with more class than most rappers in this day and age) it's simply a vainglorious culture aversively indentured into a country we live in. Money is sought after for more reasons than good at present day. Most people don't realize how much blood, sweat, and tears have gone into making our great US of A as grrrrrreat as it is today (minus the evident recession). The milk-carton missing obscurity here is that exponential good comes from hard work and NOT by cutting corners in life as needed. Must we really be excavating the past to understand this concept? Not necessarily. Which leads me to my next quandary: Ever think, "I wish today's generation would stop acting so entitled and actually work hard at something?" Well I've got jusssst the lesson plan to get them thinking about working harder: How to become rich and famous. *Cue the evil laughter* You heard me. I think too many some people are so disillusioned by the media's constant portrayal of celebrities and the pseudo "good life" that they can't help but wonder "what if that was me, living out my dream?" So let's give them what they want! Bruno Mars and every damn rapper on the planet has got their mind on their money and money on their mind for SOME reason...! 

A nice dose of dreams-meets-reality could be the spark to a wicker that feeds straight into their young minds that otherwise might be too far out of reach from positively igniting. The possibilities are endless:

• Have a career day of sorts where accomplished people from the community reach out to act as American Idol-like judges for potential career aspirations - and I'm NOT referring to solely entertainment careers because obviously, we all do not live in NYC, LA, or Miami. If a student thinks they want to become a doctor, let them be interviewed by a doctor who knows what to look for in future med students. Talent agencies - what better, more cost-efficient way to recruit new talent? With representation from many fields, students can better gauge what their futures may have in store. 
• In the classroom, take time out of the core curriculum to do case studies on celebrities. And the more relevant the better. I think a prime example would be Jay-Z, no obvious career explanation necessary. However, he has built an empire to the tune of having a personal net worth of $150 million dollars. It's more than easy for everyone, media-biased of course, to become naively infatuated with the glitz and the glamour of Hollywood and its key players. But Jay-Z, for all that he's accomplished in his life, could not bother to stay in school and earn a diploma. Granted that school is not always a viable option for every young mind, why do we settle for that? I think everyone can spend the time to earn at bare minimum a high school diploma. Recently, the state of Florida's barometer of academia, known to Floridians as the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test), changed the requirements for the math and reading sections, making them harder in a simultaneous effort to bring children up to national standards for their grade level. The fact that children who do not pass this test will be held back a year or have to double-up on their english class the following year is a disheartening prospect to wrap your head around, yet it makes a valid point: Why are we settling for less? Surely exceptions should be made for students with learning disabilities; however, I think it speaks volumes for those who do fail these tests. What are they lacking in their life to succeed? Is it supportive parents or lack there of? Are they just gifted and bored? Jay-Z sure as hell didn't have an alluring start at life by any means - surrounded by drugs and violence at an early age. He's not alone in his upbringing either. There's obviously an educational gap that fuels the fire of today's youth to simply give up on school. Yet what celebrities fail to realize is that they unintentionally inspire a generation to go for the long shot dream because Jay-Z is so on top of his game. What they don't know DOES hurt them. So let's show them why he did what he did, because he certainly wasn't formally taught how to rap. 

With other countries out-doing us, THE UNITED STATES, in education we only further set ourselves up for failure if we allow this to continue. We all have gifts that we can contribute to making this world a better place, as hippie-esque as that may sound. But if we don't use them, they not only go to waste but can take us down a road we don't deserve. Today's youth needs more than just parents to be on board with meeting the educational requirements imposed by state school boards. They need real-life interactions with people who can offer their "two cents" into what it's like to be a grown-up. And by having more of these interactions in their daily life, I believe many benefits unforeseen will be reaped *Ahem, curbing the increased sexuality of today's youth that appears to be budding out of control without regard to personal well being*. But that's another blog post that I shall save for another time ;-). 

To wrap it all up, I beg the question, "Do you really want to be a BILLIONAIRE if it means growing a company to such a massive extent that you lose touch with the entry level workers who are the legs of the money churner you've created? Become the very people at the top who only care about how much they take home every year and less about the company and why it was founded?" 
THESE ARE THE EXACT PROFILES OF MOST BILLIONAIRES. THEY HAVE THE CLOUT TO NOT GIVE A DAMN BECAUSE IT'S MONEY OR DIE FOR THEM. 


And now, let's take this down a few notches :). With no intention to cliché my blog with American Idol name dropping and artist shout outs, Kris Allen just released his sophomore effort and I can't get enough of this song: Teach Me How Love Goes. A suitable song title for a blog post such as this, don't you think? (I'd love to ramble off some Alanic Morissette lyrics about now...)