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| DOES ALMA MATTER?
Friday, August 26, 2022
Hey Alma, does it matter?
Yes, I’m playing with words – good puns or bad puns; I love them all.
And what is the correct spelling/meaning, is it Alma Mater, or is it alma matter, or does it matter?
My searches say ‘alma mater,’ a Latin phrase to identify a school or university someone attended or graduated from way back when …
Most people get that, though it’s a phrase not used much in conversation – I believe it sounds a bit pretentious and used most by uppity folks who think a piece of paper and who issued it equals credibility.
I wonder, why shouldn’t we all use it more?
Perhaps in a different context.
Canada is my alma mater.
Alberta is my alma mater.
Business, real estate, public education, courses, training, working, selling, public speaking and writing – are my schools; they are my alma mater(s).
And they all matter.
More than gilt-etched diplomas on a wall, and this is not to say I wouldn’t mind some degrees on my walls. When I was much younger, sans-degrees, and concerned that I didn’t measure up somehow to folks I worked with, clients I served, and the community I moved around in – so I solved that with the best I could show - clothes, car, house – were my ‘merit badges.’
We see lots of people do that. Looking back, I wonder if that was partly a byproduct of my alcoholism, my undiagnosed ADHD, or perhaps a bit of both. I realized at some point that one person’s degree is a de-facto union card in their trade, and for many, it proves they stuck with something for four years and got a passing grade. Looking back, experience and education – learning from others and from our own failings as well as our successes is an excellent education, and it does matter. Don’t get me wrong; I want my doctor to have gotten all ‘A’s and from a great medical school.
I’m not dissing advanced education. It’s wonderful, and the more of us who get one, the better, but at the same time, I recognize that education and experience are a dynamic combo too.
My refocusing this summer, reexamining what I’m best qualified to do, most satisfied by, most eager to pursue – are appearing like a confluence of ingredients I’ve had all along. Technical/academic competence in my field, speaking, writing, and leadership skills – a sense of community, a sense of a larger community, connections, experience wayfinding through bureaucracies, and caring about some causes, some issues, some big problems that are chronically unsolved.
So, if we divide our lives into chapters of stages, how many are there, and where do we stand on that continuum?
If we have a working life in thirds, I’m in my ‘third period,’ and I’m prepared for this life to go into double overtime.
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