It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own!

1st May 2015

Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young! 

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving back to my meeting, a song came on the radio that totally took over my thoughts and away from the day for a few minutes, it was Baz Luhrmanns, Everybody's free to wear sunscreen, I remembered the last time I heard it, I was driving down a country road with mom, we were staying at a lighthouse in Cornwall, I know it was March 2009 because I've just done a search on my hard drive for 'lighthouse' and somewhere in my facebook albums there are the photos so I can look at them for more memories.  So if you've ever heard the song you'll hopefully have listened to the words, it's a great reminder of some of what's important in life.  I've found out this morning that apparently the lyrics are taken from a famous essay written in 1997 by Mary Schmich, a columnist with the Chicago Tribune; (this is the full article http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column-column.html)

And rather than write anything more this morning, I'd like to you to take a few minutes out of your life to listen if possible to the tune and/or read the lyrics and really take them in, we are all rushing / stressing / worrying our way through life and missing so much, make this Bank Holiday weekend a chance to stop and appreciate those things that really matter in your life.  I've decided that's what I'm going to do.

Here's the link to the tune, https://youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI

Here are the lyrics;

Everybody's free to wear sunscreen

Baz Luhrmanns

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99
Wear sunscreen

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, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
Until they've 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 are not as fat as you imagine

Don't worry about the future or worry but know that worrying
Is as affective as trying to solve an algebra equation
By chewing bubble gum
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things
That never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday

Do one thing every day 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 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
Whatever 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 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'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 a precious few, who should hold on

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
For as 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'll 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