There’s a song called “Dear Younger Me” by a popular Christian group, Mercy Me. In listening to it one day, I began to think that the younger me should have written “Dear Older Me” in order to envision what kind of person I would have aspired to be. So when I read The Epoch Times’ offer to write wisdom to the youth, I thought I would challenge the young people in our world to do just that, to write themselves a letter.
I would encourage you to actually write three letters and put each in a time capsule, to be opened in 10, 20, and 30 years. Write not so much what you desire to do in life, but rather who you desire to become. Because regardless of whether you are rich or poor, successful or not so much, what you do doesn’t really matter if you lack character and relationships. So who you become is much more important than what you become. Hopefully, one thing on your list is to be and to have a good friend.
True friendship isn’t found on social media. Your real friends are close enough to hold your hand, hug you, and tell you in words breathed from their mouths how much they care about you. They will show up in person when you need them, and be a phone call away. Social media friendships are fake news. No one, absolutely no one, lives 100 percent of their lives as they portray publicly. It’s in our most private thoughts and moments that we understand who we really are and who our friends really are, and we are all mostly imperfect in every way. Fake is the enemy of the genuine. Fake news, fake bodies, and fake food are all poisonous to the real. To be genuine is to be true, pure, and free from anything false or counterfeit (Webster 1828 dictionary). Isn’t that what we all desire in our relationships? So doesn’t it follow that we would want to be genuine as well?
So I ask, what kind of person do you aspire to be—today, and in the decades to follow? Not what, but who will you be in 10 years? In 10 more years? In 10 years after that? Who you become is up to you. Decisions you make today will determine who you are tomorrow. Your friends, those you follow, those you lead, and those you spend time with all impact those decisions. What you feed your mind and your body will answer those questions.
When you are 30 or 40 or 50, what do you want to say while looking back on your younger self? Will you be regretful? Or thankful? Will you be proud of the choices you made and the relationships you nurtured? Will you look back on the social media you engaged in (yes, it is all being recorded, even if you “delete” it) and be proud of what you said and did? Will you be glad for the decisions you made, even though they were challenging and difficult at the time? Even if those decisions meant you had to stand alone? Will your body thank you for how you fed it and the care you gave it? Will your thoughts be healthy and your mind sharp? Will your soul be pure? Will you have learned from other people’s mistakes and successes, or will you have blindly stumbled into the future with no thought of the consequences of your choices? Will you have listened to those older and wiser than you?
What will your older self have to say about your younger self? Answer this question and you will have set a path to real success in life. It doesn’t matter what you become, it only matters who the genuine you is, and who you will become. So map out a plan, and ask your older self to review it. Ask those who truly love and care about you to help you with it. Take the advice of those who have lived out both the young and the old self, because they have a perspective that your young self can never have. I’m sure they would be grateful to assist you on your journey, to help you avoid the mistakes even they made. Proverbs 19:20 in the Good Book says, “Listen to advice and accept discipline, so that you may be wise the rest of your days.”
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