To The New University Students I Worked With in High School
The ball's in your court. Keep your advantage.
Don't get lost, you guys. Remember your Dante Alighieri...
The best path is, perhaps, the one you carve yourself. But check regularly for landmarks, and look back occasionally to see how the terrain appears, in case you have to double-back.
Let the loose, thoughtless wandering be for others. Remember from where you came, and don't neglect where you are going.
I can tell you again, from experience: there is almost no pit you stumble into that can't be got out of — but that NOT getting trapped or lost in the woods is better.
I've been lost and I've been found — being found is better.
It is possible to have the best possible time of your lives, now, in the 18-20's, without selling yourself out to others. They will try to buy you, or sweet talk you into wanting to impress them. Try not to listen.
Dad would say it's a waste of energy to impress people you don't know doing things you wouldn't do and spending $ you don't have.
Bon voyage! I hope for good reports from all of you, of course, and it goes without saying you will be missed.
But as a wiser man than I once penned, "onwards and upwards!" There are many good things ahead, if you only remember to look for them.
Love,
;o/
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
We love you, too, [...]!
And you've prepared us well. They ask me to use guess 'n check on a test.... I create formulas and find intersection points instead. Ha!
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For a second, I almost lost myself, but I quickly remembered where I came from and what has made me the person today. Since then, I've been cruising at my own pace, always cautious of what surrounds me. Thanks for the words of wisdom, I just hope that others come across these kinds and guiding words.
Thank you.
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Thanks for the "shout," 'Hat. I am very pleased to have been able to serve as a reminder of something you all already knew... but I suppose that's what a reminder is for.
So very pleased.
Now.
Just know the battle is not over; if the Devil* can't turn a person 180 degrees in a second, he will try to turn them a little at a time over weeks or months or even years. That's how most of us adults get lost.
In the wilderness, if one leg is even a little shorter than the other (I'd be in serious trouble) a person will turn in a big, wide slow circle as he walks (so he thinks) in a straight line. It's a recipe for disaster, unless:
Every now and again, you take your bearings. It doesn't have to be every day, or every week, perhaps, and it doesn't have to be a serious sit-down-and-ponder for hours session either.
But every now and again...
*in this case, you may choose to think of this as allegorically, if you wish.
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