Oh how I wish I could have had a conversation with my younger self in my late teens when all doors were still open to him, no life-changing mistakes had yet been made, and he thought himself destined for great success no matter his path in life. It would have saved him great heartache later in life.
He liked poetry at the time (as now) and both read and wrote it with the honesty, innocence, and passion of an old soul who had never known real heartache or loss. I'd read him a recent post of mine as a warning: I have a ten page resume / And a one-page life / Footnote my regret.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrySmL34Zt
He wanted to be a writer and publish books and articles that would entertain and instruct, allowing others to view the world from a different lens. I'd give him copies of my books of poetry and my novel to serve as a warning of things to come that I hope he'd be able to understand, reading between the lines and avoid flying into what should have been clearly visible mountains with afterburners engaged.
I'd sit with him and ask him to not rush in where angels fear to tread. To work less and spend more time with the people he loved whom he never suspected would die much too young. To strive for lesser visible yet far worthier goals than the loftier ones he pursued and achieved, not knowing the lesser were the far better ones he should have pursued.
I'd warn him about a life deferred, and counsel him to plow fertile fields where souls might grow rather than strive for more collections of dead, pressed leaves. I'd show him the epic Pyrrhic victories he would win and foolishly celebrate--and their hidden cost--and walk him through the accumulation of dusty life trophies he would earn and what they would cost both him and some he loved more than his life both then and still today.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsFClM1zVH
I would praise him for embracing even then some vital values learned from his beloved parents and grandparents: that the only possession he could ever own that no government could tax or expropriate is knowledge; that there is no shame in all honest, hard work; that there is no greater failure than the failure to try; and that there is no greater treasure he could own or pass down than an honorable reputation and an unsullied name.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTn3JkiExC
Alas, there is no reset button to life, and no time machine to take us back to our younger selves to offer guidance, advice, or warnings about ruts on the roads they would travel. What we do have is the ability to offer the benefit of our experience to any who may benefit from our own life lessons and be willing to listen, be they younger family members, friends, neighbors, students, colleagues, or others whose path we might help smooth over and ,perhaps, allow them to pay it forward. It is the best we can do in this life. And it is one way we can strive to achieve leaving the world a little better than we found it, one person at a time.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKK6hWVqlZJ
