“Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on
the young”
On June 1st of 1997, the ‘Chicago
Tribune’ had published an article written by Mary Schmich. She described the
column as a commencement speech she would give had she been asked to give one.
Back in the nineties (a decade whereby
blockbuster hits were shrouded in urban legends like ‘Scream’ and ‘I Know What
You Did Last Summer’), the column did not escape the clutches of the rumor
mill. The urban legend was that the article had really been an MIT commencement
speech given by Kurt Vonnegut in that same year. However, such an allegation
was ultimately crushed by the fact that MIT’s commencement speaker that year
was Kofi Annan. Despite this, the story had become a sensation by the year of
1999.
... But enough of its origins! What drew me to
Schmich’s “speech” was its content. She presents simple advice like to stretch
more often and to refrain from abusing your hair with too much product,
interwoven with serious messages like embracing your past so you may look
forward to the future.
XXX
Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
by Mary Schmich (re-entitled by Baz Luhrmann)
Ladies
and Gentlemen of the class of ’99,
If I could offer you only one tip for the
future, sunscreen would be
it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been
proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh
nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until
they have 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’re not as fat as you
imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know
that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by
chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some
idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts,
don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
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 the compliments you receive, forget the
insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old
bank statements.
Stretch.
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.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when
they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll
have children, maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance
the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are
half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t
be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it… it’s the greatest
instrument you’ll ever
own.
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in
your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow
them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make
you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents… you never know when
they’ll be gone for
good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link
to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the
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 you
knew
when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it
makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes
you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will
rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll
fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe
you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know
when either one
might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time
you're 40, it will
look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient
with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a
way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
XXX
I highlighted the parts where I loved and agreed with the most (had to hold myself back from highlighting the whole essay). I just felt the need to share this gem of an article with everyone because its bits and pieces of advice made me realize how we often forget the little things in life that contribute to the quality of it.
There are things we often take for granted... things like looking at the big picture, for instance. Don't get me wrong, guys... I'm not trying to be a Miss Polly Preacher or anything. I just thought it would be interesting to share some stuff I've come across in the past like snide, little comments on a social network like Twitter (as an example).
I know some of you are probably groaning or rolling their eyes because you may be feeling a little "involved" in that observation. Hey, we're all guilty of it. I know I've done it before. That's what human beings do... You give us a social medium and we're like "I'VE GOT TO LET PEOPLE KNOW HOW I FEEL I'M FEELING SO SCORNED RIGHT NOW YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!"... maybe add a 'lol' at the end to soften the blow? Anyway, some cases go beyond passive-aggression, whereby excerpts like "Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it… it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own" becomes easier to read on paper rather than applying it in real life. This is especially so when each and every mistake made with that body of yours gets circulated within seconds on such a public forum such as the one mentioned above. The worst part? The mistakes don't even matter.
"She wore that top with those heels. Fashion no-no."
"He wore his pants so tight, they should be illegal."
"Some people just shouldn't wear plum lipstick."
When listed like that, we tend to see how trivial it sounds, right? Yet they exist because we allow our lives to revolve around that triviality. We live our lives through our screens... We take in everything through that rectangular, glowing box. Heck, we would probably see the #zombieapocalypse under 'Trending Now' should there be a sudden virus outbreak where people literally DIE IN THE STREETS... we would still see tweets like "omg there's a zombie like totes in front of me, you guys #zombieapocalypse". That's just the sad truth.
Although, moving back to the idea of triviality... It's all about looking at the bigger picture, really. This is something I find myself struggling with everyday. I watched 'Soul Surfer' (good movie, you guys should check it out if you haven't already) the other day and had been immensely moved by the whole story. So much so I found myself Googling Bethany Hamilton (of which the movie was based upon) to find out more about her life.
If you don't know who she is, the gist of her biography is that she was (and still is) a competitive surfer who had her arm bitten off by a shark at the age of 13. Even though the odds were against her, she fought her way back into the world of surfing as a champion just because she loved that world more than anything else.
Imagine that, huh?
Just imagine having so much passion for something, it becomes the very thing that gets you out of bed at the crack of dawn without fail. Imagine living for something... Living for art, living for music, living for basketball, living for your dreams... Anything as long as it fuels you to keep moving forward, even if ALL the odds are against you.
Imagine the people who have that.
Then, imagine us who fill our days with comments like "some people should be told to look in the mirror once in a while" or "you're not smart enough for that line of work" or "those who have 'such and such' are jerks", etc...
Do we get the big picture now?
