Do not take the entire world on your shoulders. Do a certain amount of skylarking, as befits people of your age. "Skylarking," incidentally, used to be a minor offense under Naval Regulations. What a charming crime. It means intolerable lack of seriousness. I would love to have a dishonorable discharge from the United States Navy—for skylarking not just once, but again and again and again.
Kurt Vonnegut shared this bit of advice in a graduation speech in 1970.
The thing that strikes me is that his seemingly flippant guidance wasn’t from a lack of exposure to the realities of the world—toward the beginning of the speech, he describes his long-standing pessimism, born out of personal experiences in World War II that included surviving the horrific firebombing of Dresden.
So, with Vonnegut in mind, let’s ask ourselves two questions: Is my situation that serious? And whether it is or not: Will me “taking it seriously” make it better?
Insight inspired by Kurt Vonnegut and this speech. In keeping with the insight: it made me laugh out loud multiple times. Thanks to new 1 reader Matt Lovett for sending it to me! And James Somers (of 1, #46 fame!), for posting the transcript on his site.
"Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly" (GK Chesterton)