Question # 182 Your Legacy
From the time I was young my dad hammered two points home; two points that, even if I should forget everything else he taught me, I was to always remember. These two points were: "Procrastination is the thief of time" and "Womens is bitches".
My friend growing up's dad taught him the mantra "The war never ends."*
My question is: What words of advice will you leave to your children to better help guide them in their life decisions?
*My friend's dad was in Vietnam natch'**
**follow up question: where should you put the "'" character when saying "natch"? at the beginning or at the end or not at all?
12 comments:
I would tell them what my Mom always told me. 1.) Never let your purse out of your sight. 2.) Don't tell the cops anything, even if you have nothing to hide. 3.) Never consent to a police search, even if you have nothing to hide. I'm sure there are others but so far in life these have been helpful.
My father only ever gave me two pieces of advice, but he repeated them constantly:
1. get good grades, education is important.
2. don't drink the punch.
From my mother:
Don't let your drink out of your sight, boys will drug you. always.
These bits of wisdom have served me well; I will probably pass them on to my offspring.
I think there's a good chance that the most likely thing I'll say to my children is "You don't exist."
If I had a daughter I would tell her "don't let him take the pictures" every day, like when we were getting ice cream, when I was driving her home from school, always. "Happy Birthday! Don't let him take the pictures."
She'd never know what I was talking about until one day she would have a boyfriend who would say "baby let me take these tittypix of you, I swear noone else will ever see them" and then she'd realize why I had told her that so many times.
If I had a son I would maybe tell him the same thing.
In any case I'd also tell my children "make yourself useful."
"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."
At the moment it looks as though I will probably be leaving the same legacy as Jake, but if anything changes I will probably tell my kids (or at least my nieces and nephews)
to do learn everything they can,
to do what it takes to make them happy (as long as it is never hurtful to another person, and especially if it contributes to society),
to gain a big vocabulary so that you don't need to use one curse word for averything,
and I'll probably pass on my dad's 'Clean as you go' mantra... which I religiously abide by (especially when in the kitchen)
... And natch' I'll tell them to close cabinets when they are done with them (another piece of advice from my padre), and then I will be called out as a hypocrite... because, well, kids need a reason to question authority.
My dad only harped on me about getting regular oil changes and refilling the Brita if there's less than a glass of water left in it. I'll probably instill the same sort of values--take care of your shit so I don't have to spend a lot of money replacing/repairing it, and don't make me drink warm water.
I will likely tell my kids that "it only takes an extra few minutes to do a job right." I will also teach them the six P's of life:
Pre-production
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Production
uhhh.... my dad taught me how to flip people off and drink wine like a champ...other than that i can't really think of any great advice....
For my kids i will probably one day hand them a copy of appetite by GNR and say: "now son despite the impression you might get by listening to music today, this is in fact rock 'n roll..."....
I have no idea what natch means.... so someone fill me in and make me look dumb
children, hah! really!
i don't think i took anything to heart from my mother. and as for my father... well, he's in the RDC and you know what that means. instead i'll tell a story of the james brothers.
rocky, cole and waseka james lived on an indian reservation in the ukiah valley. one day, their derelict father gifted the three young boys with a cute puppy. where he had gotten it was unknown, but the boys were ecstatic at the prospect of raising a dog. a few weeks after having the dog around, the father called the boys out to the yard where he was standing with the puppy. in one hand he had a can of beer, in the other he wielded a .22. with out any words, he shot the puppy dead. he took a drink of his beer as he walked away and told the boys, "don't ever get attached to anything."
oh, and i forgot. i think it would be 'natch kinda like 'lectric.
When confronted with foods I did not like as a kid, my father would say "You don't have to like it, you just have to eat it." Makes total sense now, not so much as a kid.
A friend once advised me "People is stupid." That explains most of the problems I face day to day.
And listen to Jenn and her mother because they are absolutely right with respect to the police and purses.
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