May 19, 2003

The power of coincidence.

A long time ago -- yuk year -- I read the Celestine Prophesy, a book recommended to me by my CEP mentor. It talks about how there may be something more to coincidences that just random chance. There have been multiple occurrences this semester and in past semesters, that cause me to believe there is truth in it. The most recent is the remittance of my punishment. I was at a low point, my hope I had in the idea that I could affect my fate was dwindling, and then I found out that my memorandum was approved. I truly understand the power of a meaningful reward or acknowledgement of a job well done now. Just by hearing this new my outlook improved and my motivation increased. With this I think I have all obstacles out of the way to let me graduate on time. I mean according to the tac if I excelled as supply sergeant and in SLDP and did well on my APFT and classes he would give me a D. Now, my punishment is out of the way so there's nothing holding me back from graduating on time. The trick to rewards is that it has to be meaningful. A meaningless reward like a badge or certificate is comparable to "Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signif[y] [is] that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone else more capably than everyone else." To know what's meaningful, you have to know what people value.