Friday, September 08, 2006
To Jake,
My nephew whose birthday is shared with mine (his on the eighth, mine on the fourth).
You turned one today and you're already walking. It's so much better than eating dust, isn't it? Listen, one is a good age. You're just getting away from the teet, having enjoyed that pleasure the past year. Letting go of the breast and acquiring solid food has it's advantages, my little friend. For one, you don't go as hungry as often. Next, you get a lot more variety in your diet that way. Tonight, at the Hacienda, you ate chips with salsa, mesquite chicken breast, and chocolate cake. You don't get that kind of variety from mother's milk, my nephew. And it's good to have this exposure to variety in your diet, cause that is what life is going to give you. Nothing if not variety. And like your diet, life can be severe and merciful. Try the middle course my friend and stick to the middle way, the mild. Be mild in your approach to others, your habits, your thoughts, and your treatment of yourself. Look, you're going to do lots of stupid things. But remember that at age 18 you're still a child, regardless of what the government tells you, and you'll be an adolescent from the time you're 20 until you're 40. As you get older, you'll experience regret, something until then you'd just heard about and thought you understood. But at some point, you will feel the full power of regret, and it's important that you forgive yourself during these times. It's best to ask forgiveness of others, granted, but even better to learn to forgive yourself. Also, concerning youth, don't get impatient with your circumstances. Heaven has arranged your times, and it would do you good just to let them come. Study by observing others, yourself, and by reading books. Learn by experience. The former will give you prudence, the latter will give you a healthy skepticism. You'll learn in due time that much of what your senses give you simply doesn't make sense. It will be your job, little nephew, to produce order out of the chaos, impose sense on the ridiculous, and be sober and temperate when the storms come rolling in. In order to not be a prodigal, it would do you good to remember, by momentarily reflecting, the bad times when things are good, and the good times when things are bad. This will keep you from pollyannaism and deep depression. And as good things happen, remember that this too shall pass, and when bad things happen, remember this too shall pass. But that with age, the great ups and the great downs will level off and tend toward the planar, and you'll be able to walk steadier, as the ground will become much firmer with the experience and knowledge you've gained.
This advice, my little nephew, is all I can offer you, on my forty first, and your first birthday. This advice, and the toy I gave you. Hopefully you will love one as much as you enjoy the other.
My nephew whose birthday is shared with mine (his on the eighth, mine on the fourth).
You turned one today and you're already walking. It's so much better than eating dust, isn't it? Listen, one is a good age. You're just getting away from the teet, having enjoyed that pleasure the past year. Letting go of the breast and acquiring solid food has it's advantages, my little friend. For one, you don't go as hungry as often. Next, you get a lot more variety in your diet that way. Tonight, at the Hacienda, you ate chips with salsa, mesquite chicken breast, and chocolate cake. You don't get that kind of variety from mother's milk, my nephew. And it's good to have this exposure to variety in your diet, cause that is what life is going to give you. Nothing if not variety. And like your diet, life can be severe and merciful. Try the middle course my friend and stick to the middle way, the mild. Be mild in your approach to others, your habits, your thoughts, and your treatment of yourself. Look, you're going to do lots of stupid things. But remember that at age 18 you're still a child, regardless of what the government tells you, and you'll be an adolescent from the time you're 20 until you're 40. As you get older, you'll experience regret, something until then you'd just heard about and thought you understood. But at some point, you will feel the full power of regret, and it's important that you forgive yourself during these times. It's best to ask forgiveness of others, granted, but even better to learn to forgive yourself. Also, concerning youth, don't get impatient with your circumstances. Heaven has arranged your times, and it would do you good just to let them come. Study by observing others, yourself, and by reading books. Learn by experience. The former will give you prudence, the latter will give you a healthy skepticism. You'll learn in due time that much of what your senses give you simply doesn't make sense. It will be your job, little nephew, to produce order out of the chaos, impose sense on the ridiculous, and be sober and temperate when the storms come rolling in. In order to not be a prodigal, it would do you good to remember, by momentarily reflecting, the bad times when things are good, and the good times when things are bad. This will keep you from pollyannaism and deep depression. And as good things happen, remember that this too shall pass, and when bad things happen, remember this too shall pass. But that with age, the great ups and the great downs will level off and tend toward the planar, and you'll be able to walk steadier, as the ground will become much firmer with the experience and knowledge you've gained.
This advice, my little nephew, is all I can offer you, on my forty first, and your first birthday. This advice, and the toy I gave you. Hopefully you will love one as much as you enjoy the other.
