Life Lessons

Chair a la Mondrian @ DAI Member Show

Over the years I have had a number of computers, mostly Macs, and have created a seemingly vast array of documents. Unlike writing that is produced with typewriters on paper, or by hand in spiral notebooks, much of the work one does on a computer is lost today because current versions of programs will not open files created in earlier versions.

Last year, for example, I had to pay another company some money to convert my screenplay Uprooted into an Indesign document that I could extract the text from. I'm currently hoping to share the project in book form as a novella, the story of a man's quest for freedom after experiencing the horrors of Stalinism in World War II Estonia.

All this to say that computers can be a blessing and a trial.

A couple weeks ago I was sifting through a folder full of documents looking to see which ones would open and which wouldn't. It's like going through an older drawer of manila folders. For a writer such explorations nearly always yield something of interest. The following are notes from a file titled Life Lessons that was in a folder called Redeemed Good Stuff. I'm guessing this file was created circa 1990.

Life Lessons

1. Never jump out of a moving car.  
~Things are not always what they seem. 
~You won’t hit the ground running. 
~Pick yourself up and get on with it.

2. If someone calls you stupid for jumping out of a moving car, they don’t mean you’re stupid, they simply mean you did a stupid thing.

3. It really is possible to pick yourself up and a put it behind you.

4. Streamers, Mae Wests and Cows: Even if your parachute opens smoothly, you can still hit the ground awfully hard. There are usually worse things that can happen.

5. Truth can come from unlikely places.

6. Purpose is more satisfying than pleasure, kicks and thrills. Life is temporal. What is yours all about?

7. When you get old, it’s what’s inside that counts... ‘cause all you’ll have left in the end is the disposition of your heart. Your charming smile ain’t gonna be what it used to be.

8. Learn a few practical things like how to use a hammer and turn a screwdriver.

9. If you can’t be loyal, then leave.

10. Entering the business world is a cross-cultural experience.

Have a great weekend. Life is for learning.