Nobody lives forever and we only get one shot at this life. After surveying the landscape of mankind’s reign one must admit, if given the choice, this is the right time to be alive.
Looking back 100 years you had to be a Carnegie or a Vanderbilt to own a glorified go-cart for a vehicle with a top speed of 20 mph. Indoor plumbing was also too pricey for the smelly masses and the biggest killer was pneumonia and influenza in a paltry 50 year life expectancy.
Madonna is older than that for Chrissakes and she is probably making sweet sweet love to a 23 year old model as I write this.
Given an exploding population, rampant pollution, water and oil reserves dwindling and debt soaring, I wouldn’t want to be in the next 100 years either. We’re leaving quite the mess for our Grandchildren to clean up. Luckily they say kids are resilient. They are going to have to be the poor bastards.
Today our life spans have hit 80 and as any mirror fresh out of the shower will tell you, that is top end in these sagging skin suits.
The automobile can direct you to a destination, hold your 60 oz. drink, play your iPod, dial your phone, massage your butt, cool your back and play movies for the kids all in a climate controlled environment. Cars are now better than most people I know.
HDTVs, Blackberrys, internet, facebook, body jets, plastic surgery, porcelain teeth, dyed hair, tanning salons, Florida in 2.5 hours, 24 hour Wal-Marts and our air/water are still reasonably clean. Beats knitting by candlelight or rummaging through garbage.
You know what would make me more optimistic about our combined future? Better Leaders. Today we are governed by a political class that hasn’t the skills to lead and problem solve. They instead have those other skills we love to elect, the ability to pander, coddle and lie to us.
Perhaps we’ll wake up and elect character, integrity and intelligence. Cast off absurd notions of party loyalty and focus on solutions and great ideas wherever they come from. We’ll need men like Thomas Jefferson minus the plantation filled with slaves.
In the meantime if human existence was a calendar then we very well may be at the New Years Eve party. Make sure to book the next day off because this is going to be one hell of a hangover.
As a special addition to Blog this week here is a little something for all the recent graduates. It's the commencement address we all should've received.
From Baz Lurhmann (Romeo+Juliet)
"Ladies and gentlemen wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long benefits of sunscreen have been provided 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 the beauty of your youth; oh never mind; 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 algebra by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be the things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm 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 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... 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 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 to. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York 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 it's 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... "
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