10) Some people will treat you indifferently. And that'll hurt you more than if they went out of their way to hurt you. It doesn't mean you're not special. It just means that they've forgotten how to see how special people are.
9) As special as you are, you're not more special than others. God loves you. I love you. But that doesn't mean the world revolves around you. It doesn't. The world was full of heartache and smiles before you got here and smiles and hearts will go on breaking long after.
8) People who work in drive-thrus get the order wrong. I don't know why but it's about as consistent a rule as rock stars and overdoses.
7) Oh, your favorite bands break up. And it seems the more awesome the band is the quicker they break up. The terrible ones linger on forever or reunite often. Spandau Ballet is currently touring. You don't know who they are and if I do my job as a parent you never will.
6) Suffering is part of this life. As much as I'd like to protect you from this, I can't. I may even be the cause of it sometimes. But it's part of life and good can come out of it. I'll hate watching you go through it but I'll be proud of how you get through it.
5) Loving someone doesn't mean they'll love you back. Just try not to make too much of a fool of yourself over it.
4) You're going to die. You will. But trust in Christ's promise that you will live forever.
3) Rooting for sports teams is simply another avenue to invite heartbreak into your life. I've been incredibly lucky in that I've seen my NY Rangers win the Stanley Cup, Notre Dame win a national championships, the Mets win the World Series and the Giants have won three since I really started paying attention to sports. That's actually really lucky but that's about 120 sports seasons and 6 championships. That means 114 times I'm left screaming at the television, admonishing coaches, and yelling about biased referees. That's not a good rate of return. But you'll probably do it anyway. The good news is that some of the happiest people I know are Cubs fans and some of the most miserable are Yankees fans. It doesn't make sense but it's true.
2) The SAT's matter a lot as to which college you'll get into. But which college you got into stops mattering two years after you start working.
1) The easy way usually isn't the right way. I wish it were different but taking the hard way really does build character. It's a funny thing about character. It usually builds when you're not focused on yourself. And a strong character makes the hard way a lot easier to bear.
There's a lot more I don't want to tell you but you'll learn soon enough. Life has a way of teaching you whether you want it to or not.
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I know this much is true…
So true, funny how it seems…
Thanks, Matt,
‘Cause I want the truth to be said!
Spandau Ballet is awesome. Don’t be hatin’.
Might I point out that Rush is still going strong with the same lineup they’ve had since 1975? The greatest band endures.
number 4 contradicts St Paul. You don’t want to contradict St Paul, do you?
I like number 9.
My family knows the cold hard truth of number since my husband has been a Redskins fan since birth. I guess it’s a lesson in loyalty and the perseverance of hope!
Uggh, number 8. And I feel too rude to look in my bag to make sure the order is right! But then again, I suppose I shouldn’t be going through the drive-thru so often.
Just so you know, as a high school employee at McD’s, sometimes it’s the customer’s fault. I want a cheeseburger with two pickles and no ketchup…no, no, make that chicken nuggets with…do you have bbq sauce?...oh wait, can I get a salad instead???
i disagree with your point about drive throughs.
and as for 5) Loving someone doesn’t mean they’ll love you back. Just try not to make too much of a fool of yourself over it.
heck, if it’s real love, it’s worth making a fool out of yourself, worse than being a fool is being guarded.
I’ll tell you why drive throughs will get your order wrong. Because it will be about the 200th time they made that particular item. The other 199 times they got it right. You just happened to be unlucky number 200.
Something you left out for #2, which changes things: It also, for some colleges, changes the amount of money they give you in merit scholarship! The money we spent on my kids’ SAT review courses came back to them a few times over because it bumped up their SAT scores by a few hundred. And then the quality of the college that accepts you also goes up, so you think it may not matter after working for two years, but that job just may be paying more because you went to a better college. Not always, but sometimes. Or else that better college better prepared you for grad school, med school, vet school, etc. That happens more than you think, especially these days when an undergrad degree doesn’t count for much and so many have to continue on in higher education.
Why do I find it hard to write the next line?
“Some people will treat you indifferently. And that’ll hurt you more than if they went out of their way to hurt you.”
.
I’ve experienced plenty of both in my forty-one years. And I can tell you without hesitation that I strongly, completely, absolutely prefer the indifference.
Matt, what’s this about favorite bands breaking up? C’mon, you’re old enough to be familiar with the Stones if you can also remember when the Rangers, Mets and ND were worth rooting for? The Mets? Oh yeah, they’re that other team with the nerve to identify itself as a major league team from New York. And as for the Stones, they started when Mantle and Maris were still banging HRs out of the Old Stadium (when it was still a work of art compared to what happened to it in the Seventies) and the Stones are still rockin’ n’ Rollin’ as the Yanks are this year, even with all their injuries to key players!
If you’re seeing a baseball shrink, you need another one. The Cubs fans are “happier”? I can see you making such a comparison with Red Sox and Yankee fans, but not the Cubs. When was the last time the Cubbies won the big one? Long before the time when Charlton Heston told Yul he’d have to pry his sea-splittin’ rod out of his cold dead fingers and long before he morphed into Michaelangelo to give Sixtus and future Cardinals something nice to look upwards to if they got bored during consistories.
For the most part, aside from my high and inside brushbacks, you got up and hit it right out of the park…especially with your closing #1.
“Always believe in your soul
You’ve got the power to know
You’re indestructible”
Spandau Ballet “Gold”
Pretty much the point of this list isn’t it??
#10 Doesn’t make any sense: So if you had a broken leg and needed someone to call the hospital for help you’d rather have someone come over and break your arm (and not call the hospital) then have someone walk by (indifferently) and not call the hospital?
That’s really bizarre. I’d much rather someone just walk by and not help then to not help AND make the situation worse.
Seems like you don’t know that attention is not a good thing sometimes.
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