Progress or Extinction

"Our economic systems were formed when the planet and its air, rivers, oceans, lands, all seemed infinite. They evolved long before we first saw the Earth as the tiny organism that it actually is. They're all alike in one respect they're profit-driven, and therefore, focused on short-term gain. 

The prevailing economic systems, no matter what their ideologies, have no built-in mechanisms for protecting our descendants of even 100 years from now, let alone, 100,000. In one respect, we're ahead of the people of Ancient Mesopotamia. Unlike them, we understand what's happening to our world.

For example, we're pumping greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere at a rate not seen on Earth for a million years.

And the scientific consensus that we're destabilizing our climate. Yet our civilization seems to be in the grip of denial; a kind of paralysis. There's a disconnect between what we know and what we do. 

Being able to adapt our behavior to challenges is as good a definition of intelligence as any I know. If our greater intelligence is the hallmark of our species, then we should use it, as all other beings use their distinctive advantages to help ensure that their offspring prosper, and their heredity is passed on, and that the fabric of nature that sustains us is protected.

Human intelligence is imperfect, surely, and newly arisen. The ease with which it can be sweet-talked, overwhelmed, or subverted by other hard-wired tendencies, sometimes themselves disguised as the light of reason, is worrisome. 

But if our intelligence is the only edge, we must learn to use it better.

To sharpen it. To understand its limitations and deficiencies. To use it as cats use stealth before pouncing. As walking sticks use camouflage. To make it the tool of our survival.

If we do this, we can solve almost any problem we are likely to confront in the next 100,000 years."

- Neil DeGrasse Tyson from Cosmos, Season 1, Episode 11

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 more reliable than my own meandering experience. 

I will dispense this advice now: Enjoy the power and 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 knows that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be 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, and 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 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 old's 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’ll 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. 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 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 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 its 40, it will look 85.

Be careful who 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...

Crazy world
Full of crazy contradictions
Like a child.
First you drive me wild,
And then you win my heart
With your wicked art.
One minute tender, gentle,
Then temp'ramental as a summer storm.

Just when I believe your heart's getting warmer,
You're cold and you're cruel,
And I, like a fool, trying to cope,
Trying to hang on to hope.

Crazy world,
Ev'ryday the same old roller coaster ride.
But I've got my pride,
I won't give in,
Even though I know I'll never win.
Oh, how I love this
Crazy world.

- Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria is a musical with a book by Blake Edwards, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and additional musical material (music and lyrics) by Frank Wildhorn