Ego ipse efficio

What ever happened to the great position of respect once held by the self-educated man? The Renaissance man? Ben Franklin was an amazing individual; Inventor, scholar, author, politician, and much more. He was held in the utmost respect, even by other great men of his day. I like to think he was like Howard da Silva, but I know that probably isn't true. Still, even today, we study and revere him and his contributions to society in so many fields.

Granted, I know it's a bit hyperbolic, some may call it naive or deluded, to compare myself to the great Mr. Franklin. That's not what I'm trying to do. I hope that no one exists who is so self-aggrandizing as to compare them self to him. All I'm trying to get across is the change in the socio-tude that has lost that respect somewhere along the way. Why did it happen? Why does no one feel there's any worth to a person or their knowledge unless it's "proven" by a scrap of paper framed on their wall? Why does experience seemingly count for almost nothing, no matter how much may be accumulated, unless it's with a very formal organization and it's well documented? People can learn things on their own and can gain skills and experience in informal settings. It should count for something. Life is the greatest teacher we have. There is so much that can only be learned through living. No amount of school or jobs can just, poof, prepare you for life. That fact seems to have been lost or forgotten along the way. Nowadays, if someone has a "good" education, then clearly they have a greater worth to society. It doesn't matter whether they earned their degree or not, as long as they have one. Clearly this must be true, I mean just look how well it worked out with President Bush v2.0. He graduated from Yale and Harvard Business School, so clearly he must be an intelligent, rational, clear-thinking, level-headed individual completely worthy of leading this country. Riiight...

Employers are a perfect example of this line of thinking. You can't even get a toe in the door unless you have an impressive and well documented (though that last part is questionable) resume. They won't give the time of day to anyone without that. They give no opportunity to prove yourself worthy. They dismiss anyone without the credentials they hold dear. A college degree doesn't canonize someone. Yes, it shows a certain aspect of the ability to complete a task; one side of the ability to follow through with something regardless of the enjoyability of the task. I'm not saying it holds no worth, but the credence paid has been vastly over-rated. And, yes, I know Benjamin Franklin graduated college. But his college degree isn't what created or fueled his genius. It was his deep personal desire for self improvement; his belief that you never stop learning; his continual questioning of the world and then searching for answers. He created himself. He was never willing to rest on his laurels.

If everyone was as driven, think how much the human race could accomplish. We are lucky that there still people out there with that eternal thirst for knowledge, but they are getting fewer and further between. Maybe it's a general laziness that has settled on us or a cockiness that we are such a modern and sophisticated society that we need not strive for betterment anymore. Whatever it is, it's hampering our cumulative human improvement and creating a superiority complex in our world. There was no reason to be shocked by the young man in Africa who built his family a windmill. He saw a need and studied and created and triumphed. Ingenuity is still out there, along with creativity, problem solving, and imagination. It's living in those of us still yearning for every scrap of knowledge we can get our hands on.