Sunday, May 21, 2006
Luminous Advice Never Goes Stale
Luminous text written by Mary Schmich
Luminous song rendered by Baz Luhrman
Luminous clip produced by DM9DDB
And it comes complete with Luminous Portuguese subtitles too!
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 or reliable then my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice....now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.
Oh, nevermind, you won't 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 effective 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 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 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 no where 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'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 what a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps and 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 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 are 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 wishing 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.
I do love the actual song, which sort of frames the monologue read by Baz Luhrman, and it is, again, mostly for its WORDS: "Someday ~ A Spirit Will Take You And Guide You Back ~ I Know You're Hurting But I Will Be There For You" ~ Amen To That! I have my ideas on Who that Spirit Is...
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Some undeniable truths are dispensed in this gem of a speech...
Some objectionable points are raised too, if one looks for the tiny point to be reinterpreted or outright flaw in there...
The good:
It is true that being young is wonderful.
It is true that worrying is wasted energy.
It is true that we should challenger ourselves and have no fear.
It certainly is true that a heart is a precious thing, so to be reckless with it is not nice at all...
Singing, flossing and stretching are good for ya.
Jealousy, like worrying, is wasted energy.
So is envy.
It sure is true that forgetting insults is damn near impossible to do. The trick to it is to wonder if the person's opinion matters at all - and if it will have any importance at all in the future.
I agree 100% that knowing or not knowing what to do with your life is truly the same thing in the Grand Scheme of Things. As stated here, "the race is long... and it's only with yourself". Also, as stated in a classic song by Tears For Fears, "(getting up) bright and early for their daily races... going nowhere... going nowhere".
Add it all up and you see that the consensus is that, ultimately, none of this really matters or adds to one's character and, most importantly, one's soul.
And THAT is the Absolute Truth.
When we'll all be dead or before the Great Judge, none of that racing will matter one iota...
It is also true that one shouldn't become conceited OR too down on oneself...
Sparing one's knees is good too.
Calicium and dancing does do a body good.
Getting to know one's parents before they're gone is the most excellent advise found therein, I say...
Friends do come and go.
We must only keep in touch with the genuine ones.
Accepting inalienable truths is imperative.
Accepting The Truth sure is.
Being independent is imperative in today's "dog eat dog" world too - although it is also deplorable, for it leads to an uncaring attitude and too much self-centeredness...
It is true that we should leave our hair alone...
And, of course, sunscreen is good...
Some objectionable points are raised too, if one looks for the tiny point to be reinterpreted or outright flaw in there...
The good:
It is true that being young is wonderful.
It is true that worrying is wasted energy.
It is true that we should challenger ourselves and have no fear.
It certainly is true that a heart is a precious thing, so to be reckless with it is not nice at all...
Singing, flossing and stretching are good for ya.
Jealousy, like worrying, is wasted energy.
So is envy.
It sure is true that forgetting insults is damn near impossible to do. The trick to it is to wonder if the person's opinion matters at all - and if it will have any importance at all in the future.
I agree 100% that knowing or not knowing what to do with your life is truly the same thing in the Grand Scheme of Things. As stated here, "the race is long... and it's only with yourself". Also, as stated in a classic song by Tears For Fears, "(getting up) bright and early for their daily races... going nowhere... going nowhere".
Add it all up and you see that the consensus is that, ultimately, none of this really matters or adds to one's character and, most importantly, one's soul.
And THAT is the Absolute Truth.
When we'll all be dead or before the Great Judge, none of that racing will matter one iota...
It is also true that one shouldn't become conceited OR too down on oneself...
Sparing one's knees is good too.
Calicium and dancing does do a body good.
Getting to know one's parents before they're gone is the most excellent advise found therein, I say...
Friends do come and go.
We must only keep in touch with the genuine ones.
Accepting inalienable truths is imperative.
Accepting The Truth sure is.
Being independent is imperative in today's "dog eat dog" world too - although it is also deplorable, for it leads to an uncaring attitude and too much self-centeredness...
It is true that we should leave our hair alone...
And, of course, sunscreen is good...
Now the so-so stuff...
Or the points that we can bring into question...
Enjoying the "power" and beauty of our youth... Hmm... no need to encourage further "experimenting" that can effectively SHORTEN lifespans... And no need to enthuse youths to acts of defiance and debauchery ad infinitum (or until they hit... say, 40?) - because Generation X, Y and Z will go there anyway (and pay the price for it too).
Not worrying about a thing is not sound advice in today's world...
We cannot be blindsided at 4pm on an idle Tuesday by the worst case scenario if we are wise enough to have seen it coming...
We can only be blindsided if we are foolhardy and... worry-free.
Doing things that scare you can be the death of you, in the long run...
Singing can be good, but why take chances and test the old adage le ridicule ne tue pas - try humming or whistling first and foremost.
Flossing is only complimentary to brushing!
Remembering only the compliments can make you conceited and even... out of touch with reality.
Not that the insults and those who utter them are closer to the truth - they are oftentimes dead wrong and completely off the track! But they do remind us in what a crummy world or civilization that we live in...
Now, "enjoy your body and use it every way you can" is just very dangerous "advice" to dispense...!
Reading directions and beauty magazines is damn near impossible to do though - the former is oftentimes so poorly translated from the original mandarin that we can't get a thing from them. And the latter is put together so diabolically that one will only look at the pretty (and unrealistic) pictures... falling prey to the wanderlust that it will provoke (to escape one's own dreary reality) and feeling inadequate in the process, indeed...
Speaking of wanderlust; even though traveling can be loads of fun, is it so advisable nowadays, with terror threats, pandemics and more assorted ways to ruin one's life permanently - all just to satisfy some wanderlust and/or desire to see the sights come vacation time? Why not stay home and work on your own piece of paradise - hmm?
Being nice to your siblings is sensible advice - but some siblings aren't worthy of that. What do you do then? Scroll back up to the "friends advice....
Personally, I think advising to live in NYC or earthquake-prone California is not such brilliant advice at all... In both cases, it can be thy final destination...
Some truths are more trivial and inconsequential than others - hence, why bother give unimportant politicians' philandering the spotlight at all? Prices rising will not be a problem if one can manage money well... And respecting one's elders goes without saying even. It belongs next to something like... "there is a God". But such a mention here would have made this theologically-heavy and that is a no-no in our current political climate, rife with political correctness, worldliness and... philandering?
As for the advice bit - to be patient with those who dispense it only applies to the elders again. Patient and respectful, aye. Anybody else, especially the scumbags who will try to shove their alleged pearls of wisdom down your throat or, worse yet, sell it to you, and if it is painfully clear that such scum is only doing it to look good, in a malignant vainglorious way - then I say LOSE THE PATIENCE AND GIVE THEM HELL - YEAH! ;)
Oh - and sunscreen may be a really good precautionary measure - but taking some sun, the old-fashioned way, is good too!
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Or the points that we can bring into question...
Enjoying the "power" and beauty of our youth... Hmm... no need to encourage further "experimenting" that can effectively SHORTEN lifespans... And no need to enthuse youths to acts of defiance and debauchery ad infinitum (or until they hit... say, 40?) - because Generation X, Y and Z will go there anyway (and pay the price for it too).
Not worrying about a thing is not sound advice in today's world...
We cannot be blindsided at 4pm on an idle Tuesday by the worst case scenario if we are wise enough to have seen it coming...
We can only be blindsided if we are foolhardy and... worry-free.
Doing things that scare you can be the death of you, in the long run...
Singing can be good, but why take chances and test the old adage le ridicule ne tue pas - try humming or whistling first and foremost.
Flossing is only complimentary to brushing!
Remembering only the compliments can make you conceited and even... out of touch with reality.
Not that the insults and those who utter them are closer to the truth - they are oftentimes dead wrong and completely off the track! But they do remind us in what a crummy world or civilization that we live in...
Now, "enjoy your body and use it every way you can" is just very dangerous "advice" to dispense...!
Reading directions and beauty magazines is damn near impossible to do though - the former is oftentimes so poorly translated from the original mandarin that we can't get a thing from them. And the latter is put together so diabolically that one will only look at the pretty (and unrealistic) pictures... falling prey to the wanderlust that it will provoke (to escape one's own dreary reality) and feeling inadequate in the process, indeed...
Speaking of wanderlust; even though traveling can be loads of fun, is it so advisable nowadays, with terror threats, pandemics and more assorted ways to ruin one's life permanently - all just to satisfy some wanderlust and/or desire to see the sights come vacation time? Why not stay home and work on your own piece of paradise - hmm?
Being nice to your siblings is sensible advice - but some siblings aren't worthy of that. What do you do then? Scroll back up to the "friends advice....
Personally, I think advising to live in NYC or earthquake-prone California is not such brilliant advice at all... In both cases, it can be thy final destination...
Some truths are more trivial and inconsequential than others - hence, why bother give unimportant politicians' philandering the spotlight at all? Prices rising will not be a problem if one can manage money well... And respecting one's elders goes without saying even. It belongs next to something like... "there is a God". But such a mention here would have made this theologically-heavy and that is a no-no in our current political climate, rife with political correctness, worldliness and... philandering?
As for the advice bit - to be patient with those who dispense it only applies to the elders again. Patient and respectful, aye. Anybody else, especially the scumbags who will try to shove their alleged pearls of wisdom down your throat or, worse yet, sell it to you, and if it is painfully clear that such scum is only doing it to look good, in a malignant vainglorious way - then I say LOSE THE PATIENCE AND GIVE THEM HELL - YEAH! ;)
Oh - and sunscreen may be a really good precautionary measure - but taking some sun, the old-fashioned way, is good too!
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