Lady’s and Gentleman, of the class of ’99
Wear Sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. A long term benefits of sunscreen have been proven by scientists, for the
rest of my advise, there is no basis more reliable than my own meandering
experience. I will dispense this advice
..
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh never mind. You will not understand the power and the
beauty of your youth until they faded.
But trust me, in twenty years you’ll be looking at photographs of
yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibilities lay
before you, and how fabulous you looked. You are not as fat as you imagined.
Don’t worry about the future, or worry that know that worrying is as
effective as solving a algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are abed to be
things that never crossed your worried mind.
The kind that blind size you at four PM on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other peoples hearts, don’t put up with people
who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waist your time on jealousy, sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
your behind. The race is long and in the
end, it is only with yourself.
Remember complements 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 twenty two what they wanted
to do with their lives. Some of the most
interesting forty year olds still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind
to your knees, you’ll miss them when they are gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t.
Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t.
Maybe you’ll divorce at forty.
Maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your seventy fifth 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 in every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it. It’s the greatest
instrument you will 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 will be gone for
good.
Be nice to your siblings, they’re your best link to your past, and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few, you
should hold on.
Work hard to fill the gaps between 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 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 forty, it
will look eighty five.
Be careful who’s advise you buy, but be patient with those who supply
it. Advise is a form of nostalgia, dispensing
it is a way of wishing the past from the disposal, wiping it of, painting over
the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
