{"id":1320315,"date":"2020-06-02T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T04:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/whiting-column-the-one-thing-better-than-having-potential-is-fulfilling-it\/"},"modified":"2020-06-02T22:36:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T04:36:00","slug":"whiting-column-the-one-thing-better-than-having-potential-is-fulfilling-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/whiting-column-the-one-thing-better-than-having-potential-is-fulfilling-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Whiting column: The one thing better than having potential is fulfilling it"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"662\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ColWhiting-gpi-050720-662x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ColWhiting-gpi-050720-662x1024.jpg 662w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ColWhiting-gpi-050720-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ColWhiting-gpi-050720-768x1188.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ColWhiting-gpi-050720.jpg 835w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Graduation hasn\u2019t changed much in the last 50+ years, except diplomas are paper in a folder instead of my stone plaque. The pandemic changed the ceremony, but not its nature.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It\u2019s a strange dichotomy of acknowledged achievement and a future of scary decisions without the benefit of significant experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">What\u2019s the solution? Take command of your own life. Your future isn\u2019t up to your parents, your teachers, your friends, your government, someone on Facebook or even one of the Kardashians. It\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But what if you screw up? My students always desired to get older because they felt it would prevent their making mistakes and bad decisions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I\u2019ve got a surprise for you. Age is not insulation against errors in judgment. Everyone\u2019s done the wrong thing for what seemed the right reason at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I grew up on a ranch. Every other day, it was my responsibility to move the gated irrigation pipe to the next field. This involved hooking up a string of 22 connected lengths of pipe to the tractor and dragging it; a relatively easy 90-minute job because the next field was flat. The exception was the southeast field, which was 200 yards over a sagebrush-covered hill. Not a steep hill to walk, but pulling pipe was a different story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Standard procedure required disconnecting the 22 lengths, loading them onto a trailer, driving around to the southeast field, unloading and reconnecting each length, hooking up the pump and starting the water. It added another hour to the process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Today, however, the draw of the river was too much. Fishing was good and suddenly, it was 2 p.m. and I had baseball practice in town at 4. Missing practice wasn\u2019t an option so I decided to pull the pipe up the hill with the tractor. My father had explained why that wouldn\u2019t work, but the physics of it was hidden by my desire to get to baseball. I wasn\u2019t halfway up the hill, when the drag of gravity and the friction of rocky sagebrush was too much. The tractor kept pulling and the front end reared up like a horse, tipped over backward and crinkled the first three sections of pipe like a straw. I bailed out and wasn\u2019t hurt, but that didn\u2019t help much as I walked the mile to the barn to tell my father.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Even adults, in high positions make bad decisions. Who can forget the words of General Custer: \u201cThere aren\u2019t enough Indians in the world to stop the 7th Cavalry.\u201d Or errors in judgment, like the President who thought it would be a good idea to hire a female intern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Regular people aren\u2019t exempt. Many like to go camping in Yellowstone. They have forgotten people in sleeping bags are the soft tacos of the Grizzly bear world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As we aged, we learned how to deal with inevitable mistakes. It\u2019s a waste of time to hide it, blame others or something else. We\u2019ve realized it\u2019s better to admit, apologize, make it right, learn and get it off our plate. In other words, take command of what you do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Taking command of your own life requires personal responsibility, not blaming anyone or anything else.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Life is simple. If you\u2019re not happy, do something about it, don\u2019t whine about it; if you want to be successful, obtain a marketable skill and work your butt off; if you want to quit smoking, throw them in the trash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But you have to do it; not just talk about it. Don\u2019t be the man who opened up his lunch bucket and said \u201cDamn, bologna sandwiches. I\u2019m sick and tired of this; eight straight days of bologna sandwiches.\u201d His co-worker responded \u201cWhy don\u2019t you ask your wife to make something different?\u201d The man\u2019s response: \u201cWhat wife, I\u2019m not married.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Our country provides everyone the opportunity to get an education; choose their own career and earn accompanying rewards. But with opportunity comes responsibility. It\u2019s self-determination. It\u2019s up to you to take command of your own life and take advantage of the opportunities. If you need more money, then choose to get off your butt to make a buck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At my 50-year fraternity reunion, Don returned a multi-millionaire. His college roommate, Allen, not so much. Allen asked what was the secret when they both had the same business degree. Don asked Allen if he had watched all 73 episodes of the Game of Thrones. Allen proudly answered, \u201cyes.\u201d Don paused and responded, \u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d Do the work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Graduating is a momentous achievement, but it\u2019s just a step. It gives you an opportunity. Your future is your choice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For another fraternity brother, Mike, it was nip and tuck whether graduation or jail were to happen first. He eventually became a member of the Secret Service. Another, Robert, was a Dean\u2019s List student but ended up in a Turkish prison for drug trafficking. Marcie\u2019s father, a drunk, died in a car wreck when she was a junior in high school; her mother of cancer her senior year. But she graduated with a 4.0 GPA, worked her way through college and became a CPA. Another fraternity brother was an Upton Research Scholar with a 4.0 in Biochemical Engineering, but Rick drank two fifths of Scotch a day and died of liver failure at 23.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Their graduation didn\u2019t predict their future. Their future was a function of what they chose to do with their own life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">You\u2019re graduating. It\u2019s time to begin to fulfill your potential. When someone says you have great potential, that\u2019s nice, but you don\u2019t want to come back for your 10-year reunion and have people say you have potential. Having potential means you haven\u2019t done anything yet. Now is the time. Take command of your own life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">Bryan Whiting feels most of our issues are best solved by personal responsibility and an understanding of non-partisan economics rather than government intervention. Comments and column suggestions to: <a href=\"mailto:bwpersonalresponsibility@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bwpersonalresponsibility@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/opinion\/columns\/whiting-column-the-one-thing-better-than-having-potential-is-fulfilling-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Graduation hasn\u2019t changed much in the last 50+ years, except diplomas are paper in a folder instead of my stone plaque. The pandemic changed the ceremony, but not its nature. It\u2019s a strange dichotomy of acknowledged achievement and a future of scary decisions without the benefit of significant experience. What\u2019s the solution? Take command of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1320315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-03 20:08:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}