They said put your hand on this barbecue, it will be ok.
So I did. I still have the burn. I ran home crying. My parents came out and asked the boys, “who told him to do this?” I was five years old. They all said, “He did it himself.” So my dad hit me.
Two wounds for being stupid.
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any smarter. Maybe the only thing I’ve really learned: don’t be around bad people.
You get wounded when you are around bad people.
Another thing maybe I’ve learned: don’t be afraid. Fear will never solve tomorrow’s problems and will only take away strength from solving today’s problems.
There’s always problems. No matter how smart. Every day there’s a new delivery in the morning of problems. I can hide in bed and try to avoid them but eventually they will creep in and try to remove the cover.
Oh, maybe another thing I learned, but it took a long time and I’m still learning it: don’t dwell on past mistakes.
I can’t speak for you – but I’ve made mistakes. I can learn from them of course, but then it’s time to move on. Dwelling on them will keep me in the past. Being anxious about them will trap me in he wrong future.
I want to stay in the present. So I can solve my problems right now.
This video is of a boy who is smart because bad things have happened to him in the past. He’s not in a good situation right now. And the future is scary and unknown.
But right at that moment, he makes the smartest possible decision he can make. So smart I am sure I would never have had the presence of mind to make that decision.
One decision, one action. he saves a dozen lives.
Every day I can notice: am I dwelling in the past, am I anxious about the future, am I making decisions out of fear, am I around bad people?
If the answer to any of these is “yes” then I try to turn it into a “no”.
Then maybe one day I will be as smart as the boy in this video.