Nope—not a post about how playing video games can really just be wasting time thinking you are accomplishing something of value when really you are just sitting for hours in front of a screen (a fact I know well as a gamer…well, former gamer since I don’t really have any time to play games much anymore). Instead, you can consider this posting, on December 13th (date chosen intentionally), my helpful guide to getting a present for someone in your life, maybe even yourself.
Thanks to my dear friend Matthew Porter, I was put on to this quite blunt and upfront diploma mill service called…ready…DiplomaXpress, home of “Fark College Diplomas and Degrees.” Yep…if you ever need a fake life complete with fake degrees and even fake transcripts from very real Universities, this is your place.
I know what you are thinking….”come on Carl, these guys are just joking around.” And, you would be right if you searched through the fine print. Hidden away on one page, they proudly proclaim, in very small print, “Even though our products are intended for novelty use only, there are certain types of degrees we WILL NOT produce under any circumstances.” Those include medical or law degrees…whew, that’s a relief though of course no one would ever really fake a medical degree, would they? Er, uh, well, maybe only a few people?
But thankfully DiplomaXpress happily won’t do that. Still, you may protest, it’s all just a joke…no big deal. Well, I thought that too. I mean, if they are novelty items, then it’s no big deal. Maybe on the degree will be a picture of a goofy clown wearing a mortar board. But then I checked the prices; ready for this? A fake diploma is yours for only $150. Another $150 grabs you a transcript for “High School, Associates, Bachelors, Masters, or PhD.” Wow, some novelty huh?
Either the people they are appealing to are desperate (probably) or perhaps are really planning on using their “novelty” gift as a way to really get a job. Who knew it was that easy. Rather than spending the 5 years and several thousand dollars for my two Master’s degrees, I could have dropped a mere $300 and been home free.
Or not. I mean, really, is there where we are as a society? I suppose so if we take a quick look at the resume padding racket, we see that as a society, we have seemed to believe this to be a wonderful path to success. I guess it worked for some, like UCF head coach George O’Leary, though it did cost him the Notre Dame job back in December of 2001.
This is NOT the path to success that made the country great, nor is it where you want to be in your life. While we can possibly laugh at sites like this Fake Diploma website, the tragedy is that some believe this is their fast pass to a better life. It is not. The path to true success is one created by your choices. As I wrote in Success for Life, a life lived worthy, is one dependent on your choices, “between greatness and cutting corners, between valor and what is easy.”
I was kidding about the site being a great place for a Christmas present (as if you couldn’t tell). If you really do have $150 to blow, rather than wasting it here, consider giving it to a non-profit or two aimed at helping students achieve true success. Once you do that, go back to work. Anything worth doing demands diligent effort; shortcuts never lead to any true success.