인생의 14가지 법칙

요즘 베스트셀러인 <세이노의 가르침>을 읽고 있다.
사실 '세이노의 가르침'은 내가 사회생활을 시작하던 2000년대 초반부터 있었다. 
이번에 출판된 책은 그의 글과 기고문들을 한 권으로 엮은 것이다.

일단 우리 아이들에게 하고 싶은 말을 속시원하게 해준 부분을 인용해 본다. 

 

빌 게이츠가 말했다고 잘못 알려져 있는 인생의 14가지 법칙은 
찰스 사이크스라는 분이 신문에 투고한 글이다. 
그는 미국 애들이 쥐뿔도 모르면서도 자기가 잘났다고 생각하는 이유를 교육학적으로 고찰한 책인 <Dumbing Down Our Kids>의 저자로 유명하다. 

 

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원문 그대로 인용해 본다.

<Rule No.1>
Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, the realized Rule No.1.
* 공평하지 않은 게 인생이다.

​<Rule No.2>
The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It'll expect you to accompish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meet reality, kids complain that it's not fair. 
* 이 세상은 학교에서처럼 너희들의 자부심을 키워 주려고 하지 않는다.

<Rule No.3>
Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice p[resident or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label. 
* 꿈 깨라. 고등학교 졸업하자마자 연봉 4만 달러는 절대 못 받는다.

<Rule No.4>
If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edger. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it. 
* 네 기분이 엉창진창이 되어도 네 상사는 네 기분 따위는 신경 쓰지도 않을 것이다. 
​
<Rule No.5>
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embrassed to sit around talking abour Kurt Cobane all weekend. 
* 햄버거 가게에서 일한다고 해서 네 품위가 떨어지는 것은 아니다. 

<Rule No.6>
It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip sid of "It's my Life." and "You're not the boss of me." and other eloquent proclamations of your generations. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer. 
* 네가 18세가 되면 모든 것은 네가 알아서 해야 하는 법이다. 징징거리지 마라.

<Rule No.7>
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rainforest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.
 * 너희 침대방의 옷장부터 청소하고 이나 먼저 잡아라.

<Rule No.8>
Your school may have done away with winners and losers.Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feeling be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
* 현실의 삶 속에서는 그 비슷한 것조차 전혀 없다.

<Rule No.9>
Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summer off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And your don't get a new Life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead ot self-realization. 
* 계속 반복될 뿐이다. 

<Rule No.10>
Television is not real Life. Your Life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real Life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or  pliable as Jennifer Aniston. 
* TV는 현실 속 삶이 아니다. 네 인생이 시트콤은 아니다.

<Rule No.11>
Be nice to nerds, You may end up working for them. We all could.
* 공부벌레들에게 잘해라. 네가 결국에는 그들 밑에서 일하게 될 수도 있다. 

<Rule No.12>
Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out crusiing, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/oir pierced body parts. 
* 흡연은 너를 멍청이로 보이게 만들 뿐이다. 

<Rule No.13>
You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.
* 너희는 불멸의 존재가 아니다.

<Rule No.14>
Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and Life is depressing. But someday you'll realise how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome.
* 즐길 수 있을 때 즐겨라.