Think of this as my graduation speech to the class of 2022.
I took the photo above from a storm sewer in the neighborhood. The photo is real. The words are my words of advice to the youth of America who can't seem to stop seething with envy long enough to build their lives. They can do it -- but it takes effort, including the effort to stop looking over the shoulders of those who started out with more advantages.
I know what that's like. When I started in publishing, many entry-level jobs were unpaid or barely-paid internships, which meant that the only people who could take them were rich kids living on their parents' dime. I had to sneak into the business through the backdoor, being a jack-of-all-trades for a small circulation nonprofit magazine that was run by four people plus me. While other my age were padding their résumés, I was filling my skill box, and the best jobs I've had ever came from employers who appreciated the difference.
Still, not having the connections one would get from the chummy Ivy League set has always been a disadvantage for me, but so what? When the magazines started to fold and the dot com bubble burst, all of those guys were as unemployed as I was, and many for a longer period.
What I'm trying to say is not that you should stay in a lousy position or a lousy town, but that you have to play the hand life deals you. You can't always trade them in. Know what you can and can't change. And toughen up, buttercup. You'll get a lot further and stay a lot happier if you don't let your life run on envy.
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