Paths Not Taken – The Non-Advertised Bits

One of the problems with life is how it lacks symmetry in time. Paths not followed become increasingly difficult to return to. It’s pretty much clear by this point, if it was not a year ago, that I will never go to MIT as an undergraduate – I gave up that experience. That, however, is just the basic, cliched part of the story.

Less apparent is the contradiction in the “Renaissance Man”, or in liberal arts education. While society encourages us to diversify our talents, it also makes glaringly apparent the extent to which we give up the ability to do so once we’ve chosen something. For example, I recently decided to try acting. Being in college, I had no trouble signing up for courses, but this cannot change the fact that I am about 2 years behind the vast majority of theater kids. Furthermore, because I’m a physics major with a tendency towards technology, I’d have to try to live two lives if I wanted to get into theater and keep my core.

What I am currently going through, and what I mean in my warning to others, is that things you don’t do are not always reversible. Even though I am young, with years to try any of these things, I must acknowledge that developing completely new skills to the point of professionalism will continue to get harder with time. Sure, many great writers and politicians got their starts late in life, but for many fields, it takes quite a bit of genius to overcome even a few years of lacking experience.

~ by fearofc on March 23, 2008.