Most of us have learned that what really matters will take hard work. The easy route is easy for a reason.
 
My wife and I recently attended a marriage retreat sponsored by our parish, and we heard a couple talk about the tough times they had experienced for more than a decade. I was fixated on the points shared by the husband, and here are some of them:

  • “It was tough for me to transition to married life. I had so many friends who wanted to hang out and have a few beers after work and in the evenings.” 
  • “After a few years of marriage, my work became intense. We had a growing family, and I started to work 80-hour weeks.” 
  • “When it came to intimacy with my wife, I can best describe it with a Coke example. We started as regular, it became light, and eventually zero.”

As I listened to this testimonial, I realized that my actions were directly related to my marriage. The reason I was falling short was because I was avoiding dealing with the difficult aspects of trying to make it work.
 
My wife and I are blessed today. This is because we have learned to frequently seek advice from other couples who have shown us how to work hard on our marriage during the difficult moments. We are looking forward to our 25th wedding anniversary on May 10, 2022.
 
Glory to God!
 
The 30-Day MBA
Several years ago, I was teaching at a university where students would work at their pace to complete the MBA requirements. These programs are called competency-based, and students often write comprehensive papers and take exams to demonstrate subject mastery.
 
I was assigned to grade the capstone for one student who had moved rapidly through the program. In fact, his goal was to complete the entire MBA program in 30 days.
 
He submitted his capstone assignment to me several days before the 30-day window expired. I reviewed his work against the requirements and observed that he had fallen short of meeting the expectations. In fact, he completely overlooked the financial aspect of the project.
 
I returned the assignment to the student and asked him to make the adjustments. He could then re-submit the project, and I would promptly grade it.
 
Interestingly, I did not hear back from the student, and this assignment did not appear on my queue. I later learned that the student escalated the issue to his advisor who quickly sent it to the faculty manager.
 
Apparently, the faculty manager decided that the work had met the expectations, and it was approved.
 
The student earned his MBA degree in 30 days.
 
Did he really earn the degree? What worth is this degree to the student?
 
It’s true that the student will walk away with a master’s degree, and he will be able to leverage it. The diploma does not state how long it took to complete the degree, so it looks like any other diploma from this institution.
 
Here’s my point: This student is walking around with an MBA, but he has failed to learn the value of work, and this approach will eventually backfire, probably sooner rather than later.