The best economics lesson I ever learned came from a science teacher. Mr. Seaver was a barrel-chested guy with a foghorn voice. My junior-high locker was directly across from his classroom. One morning, he appeared in the hallway toting a stepladder. From a leather bag he pulled a stencil set, pencils, a few rags and a small pot of black paint. Balancing his tools as he climbed the ladder, he traced out an inscription on the wall: “Life is not determined by what you want. Life is determined by the choices you make.”
The message was at odds with Mr. Seaver’s blusterous style, but I was transfixed. No one before had asked me to consider this notion. I’d been under the juvenile impression the world would always be my oyster.
