0168letter To A Troubled Youngster

you come from a family that – well, I’ve known better and, I’ve certainly known worse.. but all you want right now is to get right away from them, live your own life, make your own mistakes.. and half of you is looking forward to doing just that, and half of you’s not sure.. OK so far? I’m trying to be fair… now here are some sketches of what life may hold: there’s the random, no-plan plan – life happens; no plan, no control; or there’s the existentialist view: I make my own life, I’m in control, and then I live it; that’s it, I’m strong. or there’s the Indian view: that in some timeless way which may be, how you played it in a previous life; or right now, as outside time; you’ve set yourself this scenario which you’ve got another chance, now, to improve, resolve, in order to.. live fully? be your own real self? be happy? help the world? .. fill this one in yourself or there’s the view that God, the gods, the Fates (fill this one in, too or leave it blank for later) , anyway Someone Up There or Someone In Here has – as the Stoics believed – set your life as a series of lessons to be learned. The right answers that you may or may not have got right may or may not be at the back of the book but with a bit of luck, you’ll have a pretty clear idea with this in mind, of how it’s going But whichever, the great thing is – treat all the hurdles as challenges to overcome; even, if you’re that strong, look forward every day to what may happen; and when it does, be glad, whether it seems ‘good’ or ‘bad’, give it your full and glad acceptance, ’cos that’s how it’s going to be, anyways..and you may learn more that way and have a lot of fun in the sense of freedom, that this view will, shall, bring and sorry if all this is trite.. it’s the best that I can do; have sometimes done; and no, I haven’t always followed my own advice.. so enjoy, and good luck.. for, who knows, it may not be just luck