What Would Today Brick Say to 18 Year Old Brick?

I like to think that
I haven't changed that
much, but I know better.

     .  

    Many of the conversations that I've been having lately revolve around the fact that we have a son who will be graduating from high school in a matter of days.  Since he is our only child this will not only be the first time this will happen it will also be the last.  So some of my friends have been very free with their advice and in most cases it is appreciated.  One friend in particular said something to me the other day that I found especially provocative.  He said that one thing he had done when his oldest son had graduated was to give him life advice by answer the question, "what would you tell your 18 year old self".  Now this is something that I have actually contemplated before, not in relation to advising my son, but just being reflective on the life lessons I've learned since those heady days of my youth when I was made of Kevlar and possessed the wisdom of Solomon.


 So I won't go into great detail as to how I would advise an 18 year old Brick, but here are a couple of the highlights:

• Don't be so afraid to explore your relationship with God.
• Stop being a jerk to people just because it appears that you're getting away with it.  The reality is that people are not so enamored with you that they will put up with your crap forever.
• Work a little harder and challenge yourself every once in a while in areas of your life other than sports. 
• Date, don't go steady.
• Your gut instinct about going into teaching is right, looking at other options is not a waste of time but you were meant to be a teacher.
• Don't ever let yourself get over 200 lbs.
• Take all your disposable income and invest in Apple stock.

There is more but I come off looking bad in most of it so I will just leave it at the above abridged version.

     The next step was to then take this advice and see if it would be useful in passing along to my son to help him avoid the pitfalls and pursue the paths to prosperity and happiness that I have enjoyed, well happiness at least.  The conclusion that I came to was that it really didn't apply, at least not specifically.  Although I see myself in my son in many ways, I also see my wife in him.  And more than that I see his uniqueness.  My problems are not his problems.  And that's good.  So here is another life lesson.  No two people live the same experience and so "one size fits all" platitudes might not be all that they are advertised as.  It's not that I can't advise him or that my friend can't advise his son, but their world is a different place.  And so I can pass this stuff along and someone might find bits and pieces of it useful, but this is specific to the life that I have lived and only anecdotally applicable to others if circumstances align.  Don't get me wrong, most people can benefit from the big ideas here: get to know God, be nice, work hard, don't get too serious with girls too young, follow your passion, and take care of yourself.  But the specifics are not going to speak so directly to anyone else like they do to 18 year old Brick.