Things to Teach My Son
I must be getting older. I want kids. I want little minds to mold – to make into little Dustins. I’ve been keeping this list for almost a year now and every once in a while I come back to it and pear it down and add something. It’ll never really be complete, but I’ll publish it for now, and will revise it continuously. Unfortunately I fail to follow many of these, but perhaps one day I will.
1. Do the dishes everyday.
2. Always carry a book. Patience is sexy and much easier with a book on hand.
3. Read everyday, read well, and reread as often as not. A good book read 10 times is more worthwhile than 10 mediocre books read once. And don’t trust anyone’s opinion that isn’t well read.
4. Don’t underestimate a pure mind and clean heart. Be innocent, but neither nieve nor ignorant.
5. Good and evil are real.
6. Don’t accumulate crap. Give away and throw away.
7. Don’t build friendships based only on a shared addiction or hobby.
8. Read magazines for news, not newspapers or television. Except of course Colbert and Stewart, if they’re still around.
9. New is not always better – be it books, art, people, and music.
10. Trust your intuition.
11. Be more afraid of not trying than of failing.
12. Write well. If you can’t write well you can’t think clearly.
13. Consider others as more important than yourself.
14. Play one sport well. Preferably basketball.
15. The goal of life is to grow your influence to love, not to grow the amount you are loved. Though the second will come with the first, most people get them confused, and that confusion is ruining the world.
16. Similarly, judge people (and yourself) by the objects and magnitude of their love, rather than who loves them.
17. Give credit where its due. Build up other people and don’t expect it back.
18. Being described as a “nice guy” is an insult.
19. This may not be a thing in 10 years, but don’t hipsterize your photos. Ever.
20. Don’t drink more than your boss.
21. Eat like a local and tip like an American. And if a street performer makes you pause, give him a dollar.
22. If you’re not confident, fake it.
23. Always buy the first meal.
24. Clean to good music, not to a tv show.
25. Take the stairs.
26. Nothing good ever happens after 2am. Go home.
27. Learn to say no.
28. Sit in the front of the classroom.
29. Don’t go to the gym more than three times a week.
30. Don’t sit down on a crowded bus.
31. They don’t care what you have to say until they know how much you care.
32. A good drink only needs one ingredient, sometimes two.
33. Support the vegetarians, and be one at least for a while.
34. Play guitar.
35. Change your own oil but leave your brakes for the mechanic.
36. It’s ok to wear the same clothes, but brush your teeth and change your underwear.
37. It’s ok to sing loudly while you drive, even with friends, and even on a motorcycle.
