"One in a million"

Currently there are 6,817,535,863 people in the world total (6,817,536,121 now at 11:28pm) and there are always more popping up every minute. Out of this huge number of people, 309,154,062 are in the US alone. Out of that number, nearly 50,000,000 are students in all forms of schooling from K-Ph.Ds.

Now enough of number crunching.

The "one in a million" phenomenon has always got me thinking ever since I started high school. The ultimate goal of high school is to get into the college or university you want. But thats in the minds of millions of other high schoolers. So how many of us actually get into the school of our choice? Ever since you are born you are taught that hard work and a college education will get you to achieve your dreams. But how logical is that? According to statistics you, a single guy/girl are up against 49,999,999. Now you might say that all 49,999,999 people are not in your particular field of study, but at least a good 6-7 digit number are in your same field. Theres millions of aspiring designers, filmmakers, businessmen, entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, writers, journalists, etc etc etc. So what are the chances that you, the one person will beat out 999,999 others for that single dream to come true? One in a million. If your dream is to be the next Steven Spielberg or Michael Jackson, how hard to you have to work to beat out 999,999 others? If your dream is to work at a certain position at a certain company and they only offer limited positions, how much do you have to stand out to beat 999,999 and snag an interview? 

Its discouraging that the higher you go in life, the more minuscule your chances get to go further. Only a select number of players max can be chosen to play for the high school basketball team. Only a couple will get college play time in a D-I school. Only 1% will be drafted to the NBA and only 26 will be considered an "all-star" for the season. 

Why is that Justin Bieber and the recent Taiwanese sensation Lin Yu Chun get to stardom and live out their dreams out of the millions of other youtube artists? Why is that only James Cameron (the d-bag) gets to express his creativity while the other 999,999 have to work under him and kill their own dreams to realize his? But I guess if your life long dream was to work under Cameron then your dreams have come true, but what about the 500,000 others who have "actual" dreams? Guess he had a "better education" then the rest. That would be the case if he wasn't a drop out.

Its also ironic that our society places so much emphasis on a good "higher education" to succeed. If good education can get you to the highest of heights, how do you explain the following:

Jane Austin never attended college.

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard.

Woodrow Wilson dropped out of Davidson College.

Frank Lloyd Wright never graduated.

The Wright Brothers dropped out of high school.

Andrew Carnegie dropped out of elementary school.....

Walt Disney dropped out of high school.

Albert Einstein dropped out of school at age 15.

Queen Elizabeth II never went to school. Period.

F. Scott, Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton.

Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College.

JFK dropped out of Princeton.

Donald Newhouse dropped out of Syracuse, yet ironically our com school is named after him.

George Orwell never went to college.

JK Rowling never went to college.

Colonel Harlan Sanders (KFC guy) dropped out of elementary school......

Mark Twain never got past 5th grade.

and the list is pretty damn long...

In no way, shape, or form is this a rant to crush your dreams, kill your plans, offend anyone, poke fun at universities (partially...), or attract haters. Yes you all probably have a different outlook on life then I do so I don't mind any criticism at all, I never do. 

But what I want to ask after this long rant is: 

Are you that one in a million?

Because...

I know I am. I feel bad for all the other 999,999 I am going against to "succeed" in this worldly sense because I already have and will be successful. After all, if He already conquered the world, won the battle already, have plans to prosper me and not harm me, and plans to give me a hope and a bright future, how can I NOT succeed?

Credits: Jeremiah 29:11 ;)