This is just my opinion. It goes in the Peculiar Thoughts section of my journal. I've had this thought off and on since I talked to my Nephew Bobby on the phone a month or so ago. These are things I wish I'd said to him. Then I got to thinking. These are things I'd tell any 16 year old, if I could.. if they would listen. I think.
I wonder how quickly your first 16 years have passed to you. Lightening fast, I'd think.. think back to the first thing you can remember, then think about the person you are now, and then tell me, how quick did you get from there.. to now.
I don't think the big question in your life at this point should be "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Instead, I think it should be "Where do you want to be when you're 32?" Because you're halfway there. It sounds like a long long time away, just saying it.. hey, when I'm 32.. wow.. that's a zillion years from now. But.. it's not. You've already lived halfway to it. You're halfway there. Think about how fast those first 16 years of your life have passed. How much faster do you think the next 16 years will go by?
Am I telling you that at 16, you're already running out of time? No. I'd say the time for knowing you're pretty much doing what you're going to be doing for the rest of your life will hit you at about age 19.. maybe 20.
So where do you want to be when you're 32? There are basically two places you can be in by the time you're 32. You can be a landlord, or you can be a renter. In other words, you can own your home.. or you can rent. Where do you want to be? You can be the fella who owns the swimming pool, or you can be the guy who cleans other folk's swimming pools. Which do you prefer?
You are halfway there.
You can be the person who hires others to do his or her grunt work.. or.. you can be the person who does that grunt work. Two choices. It's truly as simple as that.
Once you decide where you want to be.. then you can work on 'what' you want to be, to help you get to where you want to be. Can you get where you want to be by flipping burgers? Working in a department store? Or will you only be able to achieve a fraction of where you'd like to be by working 3 minimum wage jobs?
I can't see anyone answering that they want to be the grunt.. they want to be the renter.
I don't want to see you be a grunt, I really don't. I'd like to see you be exactly where you want to be, when you're 32. I want to see that you have it all.
The only way you're going to get there, realistically, is to get your high school deploma. Then get yourself through college. It sounds like a lot of work, I know. So much time studying, when you could be out there working.. experiencing life. Again.. remember. What you're doing when you're in your early 20's is pretty much what you're going to be doing for the rest of your life.
The rest of your life.
Please, please darling.. stay in school. Ditch the friends who drag you down. (You know who they are, they're going to be cleaning your pool someday.)
Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, you're halfway there. 5 or 6 more years of school .. the drudgery, the work.. it's nothing compared to a lifetime of it.
Please.. be the one smart one who really sits and thinks about this. Be the one.
You can do it.
Like I said.. this is just my opinion. *coughs*