One possible career path

If I should, by fortune's outrageous blessing, ever find myself able to detach myself from my career path for a few years, here is one option...

Sneak back into college and continue learning all of the things I wished I'd had the time to learn while I was there the first time. And pretend I am there for the first time.

This would be a very different experience...I'd be bringing back authority and wisdom from the outside world, but instead of being revered in front of the audience as some ideal figure on which they should set their sights, I would blend in alongside them as just another pursuer of knowledge.

I'll illustrate to fellow students that successful people are merely ordinary folk who embed themselves in extraordinarily rich environments, and show them that when placed back in the college environment, they, too, will flunk their occasional test. Perhaps I'll treat a group of friends over to dinner in a big and well-kept house, and teach them something over a nice cup of tea. I'll print up a little pamphlet of the books that have helped me in my trek, the key principles I live by, and rules of how to ask me for help without becoming a burden to me. I'll hand them out freely when people request them, and be there to encourage them in their dreams of changing the world.

I won't be able to keep this up for long; age will set in and it'll be harder for me to look the part of the average student. I'll come to a point where I no longer gain sufficient utility out of the things I learn. Obligations to my family and my world will eventually pull me back to more conventional posts.

For a few years, though, I'll enjoy teaching in the infantry's trenches. It'll be a heckuva lot more interesting than giving orders from the commander's room, and hopefully a lot more effective, too.