Reply #51: On one hand you are absolutely right.

[SheilaT]

On the other, if you don't yourself read every single word and make sure you understand it all, then you might well be screwed. Alas, too many of us succumb to the pressure of appearing okay and normal, and sometimes it can be a big mistake.

In less important areas, all of my life I've been amazed at people who honestly did not understand what they'd signed for or contracted to do, and suddenly were in deep doo-doo.

Read everything. For those of you reading this now, who didn't read everything in the past, that's the past. From now on, READ EVERYTHING. Do not sign anything you do not understand completely.

Call up the picture of me and my 21 year old son, sitting patiently in the car dealer's office, while said son reads through everything, taking at least forty-five minutes to do so. It's okay if you have to go to another room to finish reading while they work with a customer who signs without reading.

Similarly, I've been going to college on and off my entire adult life. All too often I hear students complain about not knowing about some requirement for graduation that to them, came up unexpectedly. Had they only read the catalog, this could have been avoided. I'm trying to get the same son mentioned above to file to graduate, even though he has at least two semesters to go, because that way the school will let him know exactly what he needs to do to graduate. Just in case he's overlooked some silly little requirement, like P.E. maybe, or some social sciences or art class he still needs to take.

We are all trained to be nice, not to make waves. That's why we'll sign things without reading, assume we've met the graduation requirements, and so on.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO MAKE WAVES.