Letter To My Younger Self

Earlier this week, recently retired basketball star Kobe Bryant made a minor news ripple by posting a letter to his younger self.  He wrote about investing in other people, rather than just giving them things to make them feel good.

I didn't care so much for the letter as I did for the idea.  In his case, he was writing to his 17-year-old self, the point at which went from high school straight to his professional basketball career.  So here's a letter to my 22-year-old self, when I went from high school to the working world:

Dear Younger Me,

Now that you’ve got the new degree, new job, new apartment, and new wife, you probably think you’ve got the world by the tail.  I’m happy to tell you that for the most part, you do, relative to most people your age.  That’s also true relative to the rest of the world – and that’s what I want to write you about.

Things have been teed up for you pretty well your whole life.  For sure, it wasn’t exactly given to you; you had to work a lot on the farm as a teenager (at a time when most kids your age were doing next to nothing), and you had to spend almost everything you earned by paying for college (although that no-interest loan from your parents made a big difference).   But you did not want for much.

It turns out that there are millions of people in America, and millions more in the world, that didn’t have the opportunity you had to get to where you are.  Your idea of what’s righteous isn’t the same elsewhere.  Unfortunately, you won’t realize this for many years.

It’s going to take at least that long to mentally escape the ultra-conservative, white-bred geographic area and culture from which you came.  In a way, it’s just like your dad told you:  There are a lot of jerks ‘out there’ – but it turns out, you may be someone else’s ‘out there.’

You don’t know this yet, but being an upper-middle-class, white male in America is as cushy as it gets.  Since you’ve never been anywhere that wasn’t dominated by upper-middle-class white males, you will tend to think that’s how the world works.

Don’t do that.  You’ll eventually figure it out, but unfortunately, a lot of folks won’t.  They’ll always think their own version of society should be the same everywhere, which was a problem thirty years before you were born, and will be a problem over your next thirty years as well.  It’s still called bigotry.

So listen to me now and believe me not too much later, you started the marathon at the 15-mile mark.  There’s still a long way to go, but it could be worse for you, and it is worse for plenty of others.  Be more thoughtful and understanding, and teach your kids to do the same.

Most importantly, don’t believe everything you hear, especially from something that you’ll later refer to as the ‘internet.’  Think for yourself.  Find out for yourself.  Decide for yourself.  This lesson will come in very handy in your professional life, too.

Any by the way, please pay more attention to the lyrics of songs, not just the rhythm.  You’ll thank me later.  Also, you might want to reconsider being a Vikings fan.

Best Regards,

Older Me