IT Insights Blog — Education

Individuals across the globe are uniting their voices today in a cry for peace. Each year on Sept. 21, the Japanese Peace Bell is rung at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to welcome in the International Day of Peace. The bell is cast from coins that have been donated by children around the globe. On the side of the bell are inscribed the words, “Long live absolute world peace.”

On Sept. 2, the largest general strike in history happened in India when 185 million workers walked off the job. They were demanding an improvement in the rights of workers, primarily a monthly minimum wage of 18,000 rupees ($268 U.S.) and guaranteed pensions of 3,000 rupees ($45 U.S.).

Fans of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks had become accustomed, until the start of this season, to the success of their rushing attack. That’s largely thanks to one of the most dominant running backs of the decade — Marshawn Lynch. This year will be a little different for invested Seahawks fans, however, because “Beast Mode” surprised us all after the end of last season by announcing his retirement from football.

Despite all of the college freshmen and sophomores everywhere who, at this very back-to-school moment, can't decide what to declare as a major, almost everyone moves into adulthood having at least daydreamed about various professionals ambitions. "What are you going to be when you grow up" is one of the fundamental questions of adolescence. Whether they envisioned becoming a circus clown, a lawyer, an astronaut, or whatever, most people at some point in their youth pictured themselves settling in as something unique and/or special down the road a few years. Even for those who followed a clear path from the start, however, what you begin doing as your career doesn't always last for as long as you might expect it to.

Years ago, when I was young and had promise, I was occasionally called an “Ugly American.” (At first I chalked it up to being from America and being marginally less handsome than most.) Being referred to in such an unglamorous manner typically followed my making a statement about how weird something was or looked, e.g., wall maps in foreign countries where the United States isn’t in the middle, or Canadians celebrating Thanksgiving in October. Fortunately, I’ve since come to realize that there are a great many world views besides mine.