Going back to 1997, the Chicago Tribune published a hypothetical graduation speech written by Mary Schmich,
The original article is [here] if you would like to have a read for yourself but I heard it for the first time as a song by Baz Luhrmann – Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen) found [here].
I am blogging about this for multiple reasons, but the most prominent one is because I realised how applicable some of the lines are in my life, and how I intent to invest a little effort into some of the other ones, in the hope that they might be/become true as well in the future.
It reads:
“Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.” – This year, I realised that I left high school in 1999, 25 years ago… and looking at my class photo, the lines above reads so true.
Next lines are: “Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.” – This bit above, rings especially true, when on an idle Tuesday evening, on the 14 of January 2020, I got blindsided by a thing that never crossed my mind when a policeman knocked on my door.
She also said: “Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.” – Which I think all of us can relate to.
Followed by: “Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.” – And I can appreciate this as well being in my 40’s and not knowing if I want to carry on in the career I had up to this point.
And then she gets to the bit that I feel particularly compelled to start doing: “Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.”– So while I am back from the trail, in the little time I have I will try to connect with as many of my friends as possible. In [FP-51] I wrote that I need to take better care of my friends, and so I am, today, the rest of this week and in the future.
I met with a couple of them today and also paid a visit to the Leopard to see some old colleagues that might actually be more like friends now that I am gone from there. I also paid a visit to Lucille, to thank her for her services over the last 5 years, and to close some things off. I wanted to not only say thank you to her, but show my appreciation… I could not have done it without her.
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43.5323 – 172.5567
10 April 2024
FP-90
4 responses to ““Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young”.”
This is super inspiring Philip, thank you!
Yes, there are other advice in the article too, like don’t mess to much with your hair, floss and wear sunscreen.
So much of all the above I can relate to!
For one,
My motto is and always will be
“There’s No Future, There’s no Past, Beating Hearts are all We have”
Effort, interaction and showing love, etc to your loved one/s or those precious few special friends is very very very important..
As you stipulated, one can be blindsided within a split second..
Pik ek nou weer n traan oor 14 Januarie “-((
While we are at it…
Sending much love my previous Friend” -)
Hi Urvi. Dis baie sweet van jou om jou motto te deel en dit is ook iets wat ek kan insien. Dankie en ‘n drukkie van NZ.