Watching, Sunday Morning, last week I found Ben Stein’s commentary amusing. Addressing high school seniors on the topic of college acceptance/rejection letters, he cited famous and influential people who didn’t graduate from ivy league schools. He made the case that getting into the “right” school wasn’t as big of a deal as it seemed.

Great advice. Not only for those just starting out in the world, but for all of us as we go through different stages of life.
Frequently, there are turning points when everything seems to hinge on this big decision or that great event. The job interview, the city to buy a house in, whether or not to have a family. Moments when we ponder, weigh the consequences, and obsess about the outcomes. Sometimes, even after a decision has long since come and gone, we continue to wonder “What if?”

In his commentary, Stein points out that although getting into a good college may help you get a leg up, “…it helps a lot more to have good work habits, make a minute-by-minute effort to get along with the people you work with, and (most of all) to harmonize your goals with your talents.”

Rather than worrying about long-term success, in your career or personal life, ask yourself what you did today, yesterday, this week that was in line with your values.

The truth is that the little things we do every day are what truly make us who we are.

According to The New York Times, Facebook’s privacy policy, now five times longer than its original 1,004 words, has surpassed the length of the U.S. Constitution. With more than 400 million users, who reportedly spend 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook, one has to wonder how many people are sharing more than they realize.

The social networking phenomenon has grown exponentially in the past five years. Some might want to keep in touch with family members that have moved across the country. Others may want to look at wedding pictures of high school acquaintances and see how their own lives compare. Perhaps people are trying to reconnect with a sense of belonging. Maybe, we all hunger for community. Being from a small town, I can say that there are pros and cons related to communities in general. Gossip is inevitable when everyone knows everyone. But those spreading rumors are the same people who mow their neighbor’s lawn while he is in the hospital or show up with a casserole (or if you’re from the midwest a “hotdish”) after a family member has been lost.

Privacy, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “the quailty or state of being apart from company or observation.” or “freedom from unauthorized intrusion.” Rather than trying to decide if Facebook is friend or foe, think about how you personally feel about privacy. We all need some connection to others, but how much is too much? Also, when is “intrusion unauthorized”? If all the information is included in the privacy policy, then do we enter personal information at our own risk? Or should the settings be made more simple and straight forward, so the user can decide, with more ease, the amount of personal information he or she chooses to share?