Grade Your Life

I found this online recently. It speaks for itself, but there is a little bit of commentary below.

(Oh, and I, apparently, have a “C” in life. It must be there’s no hope of happiness until I have a hot tub in my yard…or a boyfriend)

[ ] You have a boyfriend/girlfriend.
[ ] You have your own room.
[ ] You own your own cell phone.
[ ] You have an mp3 player/ipod/walkman.
[ ] Your parents are still married.
[ ] You love your family
[ ] There is a pool/spa in your backyard
T0TAL:

[ ] You dress the way you want to.
[ ] There is a computer/ laptop in your room.
[ ] You are allowed to listen to the music you want to.
[ ] Your room is big enough for you
[ ] People don't use YOU
[ ] You have been to the movies.
T0TAL SO FAR:

[ ] You have over 100 friends on myspace
[ ] You have pictures on myspace.
[ ] Your parents let you have a myspace
[ ] You get allowance.
[ ] You collect something normal
[ ] You look forward to going to college
[ ] You don't wish you were someone else.
[ ] You play a sport.
[ ] You play an instrument
T0TAL SO FAR :

[ ] You usually don't fight with your parent(s).
[ ] You are usually happy with your appearance
[ ] You have never gotten a failing grade on a report card in your life
[ ] You have friends

T0TAL SO FAR:
[ ] You know what is going on in the world.
[ ] You are happy with your life right now.
[ ] You usually aren't sick.
[ ] You know more than one language
[ ] You have a screen name.
[ ] You own a pet.
[ ] You know the words to more than 5 songs.
[ ] You don't have any enemies
TOTAL SO FAR:

Total over all:
Multiply it by 3 =

90-100%: A
80-89%: B
70-79%: C
60-69%: D
00-59%: F

Now for the commentary:

This is obviously a shallow, self-centered, and foolish way to evaluate life, but the fact that a lot of people actually think like this is just profoundly sad.

What a waste to invest all of your energy into obtaining the circumstances and objects you think will make you happy, only to discover that an “A” in life is utter emptiness. It may be a similar to getting an amazing SAT score, only to realize that the SAT has little or no bearing on whether or not you have developed the life skills you need to succeed.

Think of the anger, the despair, and the sense of betrayal of discovering that everything you believed was valuable was based on a lie. Think of the pain of knowing (all too well) that you’ve wasted years of your life, but not knowing how to adjust your system of values. What if, upon discovering how meaningless the objects and circumstances truly are, you never learned about what is meaningful?

People need to learn, from deeply compassionate and sincere mouths and lives, that they don’t need to score their own lives based on iPods, song lyrics, and satisfaction with personal appearance.

“Don’t waste your life trying to look good. Spend it making God look good.”
~ John Piper