It's not all about YOU! (NYT Opinion)

Career Opportunities & Internships
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<p>David Brooks from the NYTimes writes an interesting opinion piece that takes issue with the theme of so many commencement addresses. Speaking of new college grads,

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<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31brooks.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31brooks.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Did the ending remind anyone else of Black Swan?</p>

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<p>One of the commenters on the NYT site made that analogy… I just watched Black Swan the other day, & that’s one of the darker possibilities.</p>

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<p>Off topic: The New York Times should not charge for their online articles. Reporting News should be made as easy to access as possible.</p>

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<p>^then how do the article writers get paid?</p>

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<p>David Brooks was the commencement speaker at Rice this year, and gave a wonderful speech along this theme.</p>

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<p>^For some reason, folks think news and access to it should be free :wink:
This is why there’s very little excellent, in-depth, and localized news/journalistic content anymore. Mostly baby-J-schoolers cranking out 8-inches of lopsided drivel. Hi ho.</p>

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<p>When I read this, I thought it sounded like a commencement speech itself. To tie this thread back together, one of the key skills for today’s journalists is to be good at repurposing content. :)</p>

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<p>Guiliani’s Convocation speech at Cornell this year was not at all like this…which is why I enjoyed it so much. He spoke about the need to step up and find solutions to problems rather than complaining about things not going as they should. It was a breath of fresh air instead of all the possible self congratulation type of speechs or the do what you want and live your life for yourself speechs.</p>

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<p>Roger - funny that! My son had posted on his facebook page the link to the David Brooks article and a comment “A smart man can kill two birds with one stone. Well done, David Brooks for turning our commencement speech into a NY Times OpEd!” ;)</p>

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I always hear the saying “money doesn’t bring happiness”. But for some, this is a load of hog-wash (harry potter). When I’m older, I want to be able to enjoy many of the things I’ve been raised with. If I can’t eat out at least once a week, or go on nice vacations, I’ll be miserable. Sure, it isn’t the money directly that is bringing me happiness. But in reality, it is… Saying “money” is my passion just sounds bad. But for me, as well as many others, it’s the truth.</p>

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<p>@UVA - I agree. Many people underestimate money, yet end up sub-consciously always striving for it. “Money doesn’t bring happiness” might be true, but having a some dough sure makes life a little easier (hell, a LOT easier).</p>

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<p>@4khaos
Ever seen advertisements on webpages?
I’m baffled at how Facebook operates without charging users. <em>sarcasm</em></p>

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<p>The people saying that money doesn’t matters are usually over-idealistic liberal arts majors who haven’t graduated yet. They’ll see soon enough how much money doesn’t matter.</p>

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<p>@sk8r: Actually, no. Not recently, anyway - I’ve been using Adblock Plus ever since I started using Firefox years ago.</p>

<p>I believe the decision was made with the belief that a paywall would generate more revenue than ads. (I personally don’t agree.)</p>

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<p>@4khaos
Firefox is wonderful.</p>

<p>Time will tell.</p>

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<p>“I always hear the saying “money doesn’t bring happiness”. But for some, this is a load of hog-wash (harry potter). When I’m older, I want to be able to enjoy many of the things I’ve been raised with. If I can’t eat out at least once a week, or go on nice vacations, I’ll be miserable. Sure, it isn’t the money directly that is bringing me happiness. But in reality, it is… Saying “money” is my passion just sounds bad. But for me, as well as many others, it’s the truth.”</p>

<p>This is not directed against you personally, UVA, but I strongly disagree with this attitude. I mean, if you “can’t eat out at least once a week or go on nice vacations”, you’ll “be miserable”? I think not.</p>

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<p>One of the things David Brooks talked about in his commencement speech was that finding your purpose in life didn’t always mean finding “happiness”. Happiness is a transient state… he talked more about finding a deep sense of purpose and a cause.</p>

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<p>I have a job with take-home of about $625 per week and eat out more than once a week. You don’t have to make a zillion dollars to do that.</p>

<p>OK, so “eating out” means pizza one night, a $15 halibut-and-chips platter the next. But that’s eating out. I don’t need to go to Ruth’s Chris every week.</p>

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<p>I do think there are a significant number of people whose primary motivation is to acquire wealth. Some of those want the luxury and for some the money is just the marker they use to measure their success at “the game,” which is what they really enjoy.</p>