Confucius said: “Be dutiful at home, brotherly in public; be discreet and trustworthy, love all people and draw year to humanity. If you have extra energy as you do that, then study literature.” This is from The Essential Confucius translated by Thomas Cleary.
Today our world is broken, negative with so many wars and discord. To survive one might think about a kind of literature. I would keep a daily journal given my handwritten text and power and charm. The pages could be used to fill paper lifeboats of life surviving.
If only I could go back in time, I would be a better person — or at least my own person. I wouldn’t get married before I was 30 and I would travel and explore with money I had earned summers in high school. I would behave like a modern-day hobo moving from city to city working for room and board: waitress, catering, typist, farmer (to name a few temporary vocations.) Adopt a new word like “effing” and use it to say “no effing way.” I would not settle for the expected life and style. I emphasize the word “settle” and I would find my special personality. | CS