And Another Thing

I’ve written in recent posts — The Missus, Yippie and First Thing’s First — extolled the financial wisdom about some things personal finance-related that The Missus and Thing One (The Elder) have taught me. Here’s the third and penultimate (The Cat gets a post devoted to him) final post in this series.

Pathwise

Thing Two (The Younger) is the subject of today’s installment. This wee imp is at once your typical, all-American kid and at the same time a bit of an outlier. I mean the latter as a high compliment. For you see, Dear Reader, Thing Two is only just about to be come a teenager, but knows — and has for several years — just about exactly what he wants to do for a living. He’s even found a specialized college that will prepare him for that somewhat unconventional career as well as any place. And, tho only in junior high, he already is factoring in this long-term objective when choosing elective classes he gets to take.

The remarkable thing about all this? It’s all completely logical, well thought out, and practical. And the career has the very real potential to be fulfilling, stable (in the broad sense, even if not as to individual roles), and at least somewhat lucrative.

I don’t know for sure whether Thing Two will stay on his course. But seeing as he’s not deviated for several years, has gotten only more knowledgeable about and interested in this area of interest, and his personal obsession and career goal are one and the same, I have reason to believe that he will. Or, if he doesn’t, that he’ll end up pursuing a path that will benefit from his interest and learning to date.

Outlying in wait

I referred to Thing Two above as “an outlier” because not only do almost no kids his age have a realistic career goal in mind, very few adults do either. And so the number of people who spend years, decades, or in some cases their whole adult lives searching for “the” job, career, or industry they love is, I’m sure, staggeringly large. Still others — myself included — do fall into a career at some point, but not necessarily the one they might’ve chosen in a vacuum. That is, it doesn’t perfectly match our real/outside interests even if it is something at least tolerable and sometimes enjoyable.

Thing Two may bypass these issues. I hope that it turns out he did. It’ll save him all sorts of angst and allow him to progress more quickly in his career than he might otherwise if he was job- or career hopping. Even if only for a few years before settling into something.

Grit and bear it

Some other things about Thing Two aren’t necessarily things I learned from him so much as character traits that he has and I had/have and so give me some solace that I was/am not such a weirdo. Not that I’ve ever been ashamed or resistant about embracing my inner weirdo, much like other FIRE seekers (Mr. Tako being one good example). But the human need for reinforcement and validation is strong. So I admit to getting some satisfaction when I get or sense it.

What do I mean? Well, I’ll give you two examples. First, Thing Two has a fairly mild, but nonetheless slightly life-altering physical disability. The long and short of its effects is that he gets around a little slower than most people. The upside of his physical capabilities is more limited than your average Joe or Jane, too. In short, he can play sports, but the likelihood he’ll go pro in any one of them is nil. Given that he comes from a long line of short Jews who, physically, might be best compared to Woody Allen with no history of performing extraordinary physical feats, it’s fair to speculate that he’s not likely to be missing out on a career as a professional athlete.

Thing Two lives with his disability as if it weren’t there. And we treat him as if it weren’t there, subtly allowing for the extra time, planning, and other accommodations we necessarily need to make. But woe be to anyone who overtly treats Thing Two as “special” or “different” or makes unnecessary accommodations for him. I’ve seldom seen him as angry and upset as when that happens. Thing Two thinks of himself as no different, no better, and no worse than anyone else. He haaaates to be singled out for reasons that do or sort of translate to “you are different” or “you are inferior.”

Tho I am one of those Woody Allenesque sorts with no notable physical talents, I nonetheless could/can hold my own in most sports. At least at the pick-up level. But because of my stature and, possibly, my general introversion, I often have been underestimated. So I’d be one of the last people picked when teams were being created, or not given a role/position I was as well (or better) positioned for than anyone. That’d always get me upset. Especially when those picking the teams had seen me perform (in some cases) many times. This said, the grit and determination these experiences helped hone has been good for me. I suspect that the same will be true for Thing Two as he gets older. We can forgive slights — little and big — but we don’t necessarily forget them.

Just the facts, ma’am

Thing Two also is a bit of a junkie. What’s that you say?! No, no, no, Dear Reader, not that kind of junkie! I mean as to trivia and facts. C’mon, man! OK, OK. I guess I could have used a better word.

Left to his own devices, Thing Two would spend all day watching videos or reading articles/web pages that discuss various bits of trivia. Heck, he knows more than me about some things. Just the other day, we passed a building that’s undergone conversions in purpose over the years. We know that because of the current and past identifying features on the building. One of the symbols on it was a double-headed eagle. Thing Two proceeded to tell me all about that symbol, which I’d previously known nothing about.

Anyway, when I was Thing Two’s age, and for years after (heck, even to this day), I, too, was a bit of a trivia/fact junkie. For me, this manifested itself in poring over maps for hours on end, reading box scores like they were treasure maps, and doing all sorts of other reading on nerdy subjects. At one point, I could answer most of the questions in any given episode of Jeopardy! We can quibble about what practical benefits this fascination with trivia and facts has. But I’d argue that it’s significant.

First, it demonstrates a genuine desire to learn. Of all the human traits, I think this is as important as any. We shouldn’t ever stop learning and growing. It also allowed me (and I’ve no doubt it’s having the same effect on Thing Two) to know at least a bit about an extraordinarily large number of subjects. Sure, the depth of knowledge on most subjects is thin. But I know from experience that there are many benefits from knowing something about a large number of subjects.

The apple that is Thing Two hasn’t fallen far from the tree in demonstrating these capabilities. I’m sure he’ll benefit from them for a lifetime. I know that it’s already come in handy in his schoolwork. He regularly pulls out facts or knowledge to solve problems, write well-written papers, and have a general understanding of things, money (to at least some extent) being one of them.

And in the end . . .

So, thanks Thing Two. You’re a a great teacher. And that’s a fact.