I’ve erased the preamble that I originally wrote for this piece. At times, the backspace button is a good thing. You’re welcome, by the way. The emotional dribblings of an old man drooling on about his little self-centered past are of interest to no one. Not even his family. 

So, what is the measure of relevancy if we don’t have a measure of investment? In other words, the only reason you’re alive is you survived yesterday. 

No, I mean it. If you spent the days of your youth in purposeful endeavors such as the armed forces, or just frivolously tossed aside the days in youthful pursuits, you have the right to pause and ask, “How did I survive that?” Or even more important, “Why did I survive that?”

My youth falls, (pun intended) into the frivolous category: surfing cars, houses falling on me, dumpster diving, poor choices of friends. And yes, I know, “emotional dribblings”. 

For people who likewise invested, and, yes, it was an investment, can toss it aside and say, “My misspent youth”, or can retrieve those moments from the dustbin of life and say things like: 

• “Yeah, I can relate to doing dumb stuff, and they’ll grow out of it. I did.”

• “Mistakes are for the boundary pushers, the experimentalists.”

It keeps your nose down, out of the air and gives you empathy for people who aren’t as “perfect” as us. 

But there is a catch. The only way you’ll have this truly human characteristic is to have the humility to pick it up. 

Mistakes aren’t because you’re stupid, you just may be uninformed.

Hundreds of years ago, we believed we could sail off the edge of the Earth. People weren’t stupid back then, they just weren’t in possession of all the facts. 

You may have broken someone’s heart, but it may have been ignorance, recklessness or selfishness. But it doesn’t mean you are a horrible person. That may come when you know you’re causing harm and not doing anything to change your ways. 

So, what about that misspent youth? 

Who says it was, “misspent?” Someone who did what their parents told them to do? Someone who walked the straight and narrow?

Someone who never had the courage to self-examine their life to find where they can improve?

I’ve heard actors say they never watch themselves in the movies or TV as it’s too painful. There are a few reasons as to why they can’t, but a fragile ego is a main issue. 

Our youth exists to teach us. We’re not Benjamin Button. 

They say youth is wasted on the young, and yeah, maybe that’s so. But I think it’s actually a perspective gap created by the abundance of time and the satisfaction of surviving it. 

Were the “Good old days” really good?

Sure. if leveraged in such a way as to learn from them, gain empathy from them and allow others to have their moments in the sun.

I’m John Chester. Thanks for reading.