CHAPTER TEN – University Life
My Father and Moral Support:
When I was about age 26, I decided to continue college, finishing my master’s degree in counseling. I decided I needed to obtain a doctoral degree. At the time, I was married and had two small children. My wife’s parents told me I should not go to more school but should go to work and support my family. By the way, I had been working all through graduate school. I was the sole support for the family. My wife did not work. My mother, who had a master’s degree, told me I should probably go to work. She said I should make a better living for my family. She assured me I could return to school later (as she had done after raising her children). Though calm about it, my wife also wanted me to go to work. She was tired of living in inexpensive housing and pinching every penny. I could not blame her.
However, I believed that my best opportunity for an excellent human services/counseling profession was to have a doctoral degree. I explained this to all these people, but each still told me I should go to work full-time. My wife did say she would support whatever I decided to do. My father was the only one who said: “If that is what you think you should do, then you should do it.”
He was the only one who supported my idea of getting a doctoral degree, and he was the only one out of that group with only an eighth-grade formal education. Those with higher education degrees had never learned my father’s lesson: A person should pursue their goals and follow their star until success is achieved. My father was an interesting mixture of doing what you must and accepting nothing less than what you want. Father always taught me to do what is necessary but never give up on my dreams.