Did You Pee on an Electric Fence?

There are three kinds of men:  The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.
- Will Rogers

I think that what Will is talking about is the fence that surrounds the School of Hard Knocks.  I know that with all of the educational martial that was thrown at me when I was growing up, trying to convince me that Drugs and Alcohol would mess up your life, didn't seem to make much of an impression on me. I knew that I'd be smarter then them, and get out of it before I was just another statistic.

And really, I did fairly well. More or less, maybe, for a few years.  Until I look back on my actions, and saw how many of my choices were made due to my wanting to be able to grab a drink at the end of the day. How much of my time and money was wasted?  Plenty.

But when one finds themselves walking with a 12 pack under their arms, thinking that other people will be lucky, because they'll be sober, or not hung over later. One's conversation with the committee in our head gets serious.

It's kind of nice not to pee on an electric fence anymore. I can walk in a straight line.