
Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young - vinutheraj
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column,0,4054576.column
======
primodemus
Instantes

If I were able to live my life anew, In the next I would try to commit more
errors. I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more. I would be more
foolish than I've been, In fact, I would take few things seriously. I would be
less hygienic. I would run more risks, take more vacations , contemplate more
sunsets, climb more mountains, swim more rivers. I would go to more places
where I've never been, I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans, I would
have more real problems and less imaginary ones.

I was one of those people that lived sensibly and prolifically each minute of
his life; Of course I had moments of happiness. If I could go back I would try
to have only good moments.

Because if you didn't know, of that is life made: only of moments; Don't lose
the now.

I was one of those that never went anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water
bottle, an umbrella, and a parachute; If I could live again, I would travel
lighter.

If I could live again, I would begin to walk barefoot from the beginning of
spring and I would continue barefoot until autumn ends. I would take more cart
rides, contemplate more dawns, and play with more children, If I had another
life ahead of me.

But already you see, I am 85, and I know that I am dying.

Jorge Luis Borges

~~~
basugasubaku
The attribution of this poem to Borges is controversial. At least one
Wikipedia article states that the original author is one Don Herold:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Herold>

EDIT: Curiously, the original article is often misattributed to Vonnegut:
<http://www.google.com/search?q=sunscreen+vonnegut>

------
telemachos

        WHEN I was one-and-twenty	
          I heard a wise man say,	
        ‘Give crowns and pounds and guineas	
          But not your heart away;
    
        Give pearls away and rubies	        5
          But keep your fancy free.’	
        But I was one-and-twenty,	
          No use to talk to me.
    
        When I was one-and-twenty	
          I heard him say again,	        10
        ‘The heart out of the bosom	
          Was never given in vain;	
        ’Tis paid with sighs a plenty	
          And sold for endless rue.’	
        And I am two-and-twenty,	        15
          And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.
    

(A.E. Housman _A Shropshire Lad_ , XIII)

------
quizbiz
I have an old HN thread bookmarked, "Ask YC: What would you tell your younger
self?"[1]. I read it over a few times a year and I think that on some level,
it has affected my perspective. The thing is, the advice given is nothing new,
especially the message of "do what you love".

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=372573>

~~~
wallflower
Thanks for that Ask YC link. Since I had to upvote it, I must have missed it!
Feeling wistful because it's EOY and nearly EOD. There have been some wise
Metafilter threads.

"My son is graduating from high school in a week. I want to make him a Best of
Ask Metafilter book with all the best advice from the hive mind."

[http://ask.metafilter.com/122353/Whats-the-Best-Thing-
Youve-...](http://ask.metafilter.com/122353/Whats-the-Best-Thing-Youve-Ever-
Seen-Here)

[http://ask.metafilter.com/27160/What-would-you-
tell-20yearol...](http://ask.metafilter.com/27160/What-would-you-
tell-20yearold-you)

I sometimes think we old people (old as in relative) like to give advice
because we have regrets or want to pay-it-forward or just want to get on our
soapbox?

------
guelo
Sunscreen is harmful. The threat of skin cancer is much less than the dangers
of the diseases related to lack of sunlight which is blocked by sunscreen. The
diseases include osteoporosis, prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer,
depression, colon cancer, schizophrenia, rickets, psoriasis, SAD, chronic
vitamin D deficiency, diabetes and even obesity.

Much better advice: Get out in the sun, lose the sunscreen!

~~~
guelo
WTF? Could people at least give a reason why they're downvoting this. The info
about the dangers of sunscreen is true.

"Vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized epidemic among both children and
adults in the United States" <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585788>

~~~
wtallis
Your comment implies that sunscreen can cause any of several conditions whose
causes are actually completely unknown. The excessive use of sunscreen can
merely exacerbate those conditions by further reducing vitamin D levels.

For those of us who are healthy and drink plenty of milk, wearing sunscreen
when we're out in the sun for a long time is a great way to stay healthy.

~~~
csytan
Agreed. In addition, you don't need much sun exposure to get satisfactory
vitamin D levels.

From the article:

""" Sensible sun exposure (usually 5-10 min of exposure of the arms and legs
or the hands, arms, and face, 2 or 3 times per week) and increased dietary and
supplemental vitamin D intakes are reasonable approaches to guarantee vitamin
D sufficiency. """

------
wallflower
Just watched the surprisingly good "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

"Your life is defined by its opportunities... even the ones you miss.

It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels
the same. You'll realize what's changed is you.

Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's
by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it.

For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be
whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can
change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the
best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see
things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope
you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're
proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start
all over again. "

------
yason
I would remind my younger self to dare more and more boldly as the resulting
gains can be great and the resulting losses are usually indifferent.

In general I wouldn't want to change anything for there is really no
experience in my life that I wouldn't have needed for growing, that wouldn't
have tried to teach me something.

However, the outcome of this teaching is gradually learning life. But you
can't learn any quicker than you want to, and you will want to learn no more
than you dare to receive.

Thus, dare more and take whatever lesson that comes out of it.

------
julius_geezer
One could go on and on giving examples; as good as any is near the end of T.S.
Eliot's "The Waste Land":

Datta: what have we given? My friend, blood shaking my heart The awful daring
of a moment's surrender Which an age of prudence can never retract By this,
and this only, we have existed Which is not to be found in our obituaries Or
in memories draped by the beneficent spider Or under seals broken by the lean
solicitor In our empty rooms.

------
icco
Didn't this get turned into a popular song?

~~~
icco
Aha! It did. From <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_Sunscreen>, "The most
popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single
Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen), released in 1998, by Baz Luhrmann."

~~~
gaius
Yes I am not sure why we're posting song lyrics on HN now.

------
nazgulnarsil
humanity's greatest asset, by far, is our ability to learn from others'
mistakes as well as our own.

------
kingkongreveng_
Always remember: There is no sex in the champagne room. None.

