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I remember it like it was yesterday. It was senior year in college and Forrest and I had the brilliant idea to go to the local Indian casino late one Tuesday night. We jumped in the car and drove the 40 minutes all the while brain storming about the things we were going to buy with our winnings. We got there, won a few hundred bucks each and drove home deliriously happy around four in the morning.

What happened the very next night? You guessed it; we decided that since they were just giving money away at the casino it would be stupid not to go back. When we got there we already felt like we owned the place. I remember we got comped a late night dinner. I had never before heard of anyone getting comped at an Indian casino. I felt like Rockefeller as I ate my gratis country fried steak and eggs.

And then the inevitable happened. We decided to press our luck. I don’t remember if it was after the 4th or 5th trip to the ATM when I started to feel sick to my stomach. All I know is that as we were leaving the casino I will never forget what happened. A couple gals who worked there stopped us and as they were holding back their laughter had the tenacity to say, “We were wondering how many times you guys were going to go to the ATM.” Those words haunted me the entire drive back.

The next day we got together and reflected on what transpired the previous night. Instead of being sad, bitter or angry about how dumb we were, we took a different approach. We saw it as a very valuable life lesson. The money we lost could have covered the cost of tuition for a course at our college, but the experience we just had was far more valuable than a twelve-week college class. Within a few weeks a person typically forgets nearly everything they just learned in an average class. We would never forget our experience at the casino.

In my opinion, as important as education is it doesn’t hold a candle to real life experiences. The lessons learned in a book cannot even compare to the emotions and feelings of actually experiencing something. I can name some of the most famous self-made millionaires in the world that would agree that street smarts are more important than book smarts. I used to think that getting straight A’s in school would make me wise. I have since learned that real life experience is far more valuable than any lesson taught in a university.

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