Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Memo: Education is the key

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 8:14 a.m.

'Tis the season when thousands of young people will be celebrating graduation.

What advice can an elderly citizen give these young upstarts?

How about, "If you're not there when the bell rings you miss the boat," which translated means be ready for every opportunity that comes along.

There will always be a few privileged individuals born, as they say, with silver spoons in their mouths, but they are not the norm.

There will always be some old curmudgeons around who will tell these young graduates that life is all in the luck of the draw.

Luck might have something to do with the future, but don't count on it. A good education, hard work, integrity, a will to succeed and faith are helpmates.

And there's the matter of being in the right place at the right time. My almost 50 years of writing a column for the Las Vegas Sun is a good example.

In June of 1954 I took a job as a sort of "jack of all trades" for Sun publisher Hank Greenspun.

Neither of us were too sure of what my duties would be, but fate intervened. The Sun publisher was critically injured in an automobile accident and I was left on my own.

Each day I would go to the hospital for some guidance for my injured boss. After one particularly hectic day at the office, I sat down at my typewriter (no computers in those days) and wrote messages I bunched together under the title, "Memo to Hank."

I detailed my concerns about some local problems involving politics, the Board of Regents, traffic, water and law enforcement. Does nothing ever change?

I took the memo to the hospital for Hank's enlightenment.

The next morning I picked up the Sun and went into shock: There on the left-hand column of the front page was my "Memo to Hank."

Thus was born a column that remained with that title until shortly before the publisher's death.

For several years the front page column, "Where I Stand," was shared by the Sun's Mike O'Callaghan, Brian Greenspun, myself and occasional guest columnists. Later, the column was moved to inside pages.

Life is like that. Sometimes a career is generated by accident or even luck. But always, it is best to be prepared with whatever might lie ahead.

The key word to success is education, education, education.

Am I imagining things or am I getting more telemarketing calls than ever before? Combine telemarketing with e-mail or spam and it is enough to drive a sane person bonkers.

Most annoying are the calls where there is no answer -- just silence and then a busy signal. Two such calls come regularly every day near 2 and 4 in the afternoon. Recorded calls are most annoying because you can't answer back.

With real people on the other end, one can let them know the call is annoying. I go even further and ask for the company name so I can institute a suit for invasion of privacy. Some of the answers I get aren't fit for a family newspaper.

As for e-mail, it is becoming a daily chore to delete unwanted messages.

From Viagra to septic tanks -- lewd to laughable -- romantic encounters -- fast-money schemes -- enlargement of body parts -- it's all there whether the recipient of such largesse wants it or not.