We can learn from the cowboys in Egypt

An important lesson kids learn is not to talk to strangers. So naturally, I’ve spent the past couple weeks wandering up to school after school to ask kids how they feel.

In my defense, most of the schools invited me and the munchkins all had their parents with them. The parents explained they were excited for the kids to be out of the house, while the kids were excited to see their friends.

The kids seemed less excited to be accosted by the superintendent, mayor, a bunch of news reporters and giant television cameras.

I was later dispatched to discuss the school year with new college students. Loyal Scaiaholics will recall I graduated from the prestigious Ball State University with honors. I wandered up to families to distract them from the boredom of moving into a dorm.

One freshman moving into UT Arlington explained it was about time he experience the real world.

"Oh, this is most definitely not the real world," I replied to him, but not in a reassuring fatherly way. Instead it was more, "Get a load of some of the stuff you'll see."

I told him he'd make friends that would last his lifetime.

The guy who lived across the hall from me freshman year became one of my best friends in college. We still keep in touch now. To prove a point, I texted him to ask if he recalled our group getting kicked out of the campus bowling alley for getting too rowdy. We vividly recalled the evening, and he even pointed out that could have been a learning experience for us as we became adults, but "in all fairness, our behavior never changed."

I mentioned this to a couple students moving in, a sophomore and a freshman.

But we also showed the kids you're never done learning. He even updated the cartoon using AI, in which Charlie Cardinal appears to be confronting the pardner in Egypt.

I then moved on to TCU, where the chancellor said seeing students build life-long friendships makes him proud.

I wonder, however, if the Ball State president would feel the same way if saw the work of his alumni in this blog.

This feels like an appropriate time to remind everyone I did graduate with honors, and that education has helped me be twice named the best radio reporter in Texas. The associate who spearheaded the "Cowboys in Egypt" campaign is a successful business owner.