Moving forward

So, it's that time of year when fledgling adults are being released from their scholarly internment (at least, it is here in Australia).

After what basically amounts to twelve years of incarceration, our young folk are given a pat on the back, a piece of paper and a friendly wave as they go off to encounter the "real world".

I've long been of the opinion that school should only be compulsory up until that phase in the teens when a child ceases to be a child and becomes a poorly trained monkey. You know what I'm talking about - the age level we usually stick in Year 8 or 9. At that point I think we need to send them off to work on a farm somewhere, then when they come back from a year of physical labour we give them the option of going back to school or taking up a trade.

Anyway, putting that to one side, we have a whole cohort of ex-students who are setting off on the greatest adventure of their life (loosely translated as: "what do I do now?"), and a whole pile of people giving them advice for the future.

Thinking about what advice I might give to someone today, having almost fifteen years between my own release into the wild and my current state, I keep coming back to two songs that have lyrics that really resonate with the twists and turns I've observed in my own life over the past decade and a bit.

The first is "The Lucky One", by Robert Lee Castleman. While most of the song is just an enjoyable country number, I've always loved the following phrase:

The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing.

My first piece of advice to the high school graduate: Don't be afraid of falling. Don't be afraid of failing. Just try something, and if it doesn't work then at least you've had the experience of playing the game. You only lose if you let it stop you. Keep moving forward.

The second song is "Watershed" by Emily Saliers. The whole song is about the way life is full of choices, and we don't always know what choices we should be making. But:

When you're learning to face your path at your pace, every choice is worth your while

Life doesn't travel in a straight line. We often find ourselves in places we didn't expect, and sometimes we find ourselves back where we started. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The important thing is to grow as a person along the way. If you come back to the same place as a different person, then it really is a "new" step along the way, and we can grow from there and move onto something else.

Just don't let something unexpected or undesired stop you from moving forward.

You need to have a star to sail by, but should you be blown off course (or the world should tilt on it's axis), just get your bearings and pick a new star.

Whatever happens, "trust in God and do the right". You'll find yourself on stable ground sooner or later - just keep moving forward.