Today in history...

^{Petition for bail from accused witches, ca. 1692.
John Davis Batchelder Autograph Collection/Library of Congress}

Was it the witchcraft trials of Salem that was beginning 314 years ago (284 years then) that made me take that decision?

^{Glenn Miller for a Chesterfield ad.}
Was it the news concerning Glenn Miller's contract that he signed in 1941 for three 15 minutes shows a week for a mere 4850 $ per week, sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes?

^{Poster published by the Hunterdon County Democrat}
Was it the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's child in 1932? In any event, 30 years ago I decided not to go to college* Has this decision changed the course of history! Certainly not! But for my personal life, surely. Except that I would have to go back and start again to see how it would have done so which is hardly my intention even if it would be feasible.
That decision was probably the first one I took that kept me sleepless for a while. Yet the last year of high school for me (1975-1976) was awful for many reasons, mainly because there was a work conflict between the teachers and the Ministry of Education poisoning the whole atmosphere. I really did not wish to pursue the torture.
However curiosity has always been part of my life, thirst for knowledge, but school was not delivering: too little and too slow. That last year I really felt I was at the kindergarten.

^{Autumn by Archimbaldo, 1573}
I really thought my brain was becoming a big vegetable.
Therefore it has been from then on the school of life that would attract me. I had to speed up the process in any way. I couldn't careless about what I was missing by not going to CEGEP and rather was interested by what I was gaining outside of the school system. That very decision certainly represents the most important and hypothetically I would take the same path again. In fact if I was able not to become a dropout altogether, it had to do with all these activities I had within the school and out of its walls. I was doing radio programs at school, I was a member of the student council. I had friends of boths sexes with whom I had a great time. Nothing to complain. But the school curriculum was boring and very low level.
I was not to spend another two years at wasting my time in a college, especially after I heard a guy in a documentary on TV saying: "The CEGEP is the continuity of the disgusting high school". He above anything and anyone had the final word.
Would I have a better situation today have I gone? I'll never know about it because I did not want any of it then. And now. That being said, I ain't no proud of myself. I feel shameful not to have achieve much so far and I am the meanest critic of myself. It is a never ending crisis, for I feel I only give a little percentage of my capacities. What I did not realize is that it's now 6:00 pm and the Complaints Office is closed.

« Inequity undermines cooperation [...] if you create high level of inequity, the subordinates lose interest in cooperating, for obvious reason: they are not getting enough out of it. » - Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape - The best and the worst in human nature, in an interview to the british magazine Granta which publishes the book.

* Yet I went back to school and finally got a BA...
To be continued...