Today's Youth

I spent some time with a 17 year old kid last night. He seemed pretty pessimistic, as his days prior to graduation are spent gaming for hours, working at the video store and lamenting about its better to game than sleeping because sleeping is too boring. He also said to me that his past friends (at school) were treating him like an outsider. He also said he didn't know what field he wanted to pursue because he couldn't imagine doing something (one thing really) for the rest of his life. Wow the sense of time (or lost) at such an early age.

Okay I said...
STOP.

First off dude, if you want friends (other than those in your game) you need to invest time in developing relationships. Secondly, your career is what you make of it and to see it like a static video game is to be blind to the dynamics of life. I told this young man... "look, if you think you can control life like the predictability of a game, you are missing the game itself." I then said, "Life is like the best video game that challenges you, excites you and is forever changing." Most of all I told him "we can't control life and wouldn't want to!"

He looked at me, with a respectful eye...
Left my home with his mom with what appeared to be some hope showing on his face.
Then told his mom this morning that I was wicked cool.
Hmmm.

If only I would listen to my own advice...
No need to control life...
The big globe just spins on and on and on.