I would try to send myself to St. John's College in Santa Fe where my son went instead of rushing through UT. I would tell myself to go to Thurgood Marshall Law School where my daughter goes, instead of UT Law.
I would try to keep myself from running for any office (I ran twice) and not get involved in anyone else's campaign. I would tell myself to avoid politics.
There are also a number of clients and lawsuits I would advise against. Life is too short.
Of course, I probably would not have listened. All of that ambition came from somewhere and I lacked the wisdom to let it go. Not that it has come to much. That is the trick, of course. Dr. Faustus and many of us sell to this devil and then what we get in return is a bag of tricks.
Why has my life been so plagued with work ethic? From where springs this foolish notion that work and achievement should have value?
Does anyone talk about Max Weber any more? Once we could safely blame the work ethic on Protestantism. Also, we talked about cold weather, warm weather differences. The Puritans who went to the Caribbean were said to be soon happily munching tropical fruits in leisure while their New England cousins worked hard to prepare for the winter. We talked about the ant and the grasshopper. Why in the world did I ever want to be an ant? Or for that matter someone who lived where there are winters? Or even a Protestant?
Now there is a modern proponent of Idleness. Tom Hodgkinson has a magazine, blog and book. The blog is called The Idler. http://idler.co.uk/
My I especially recommend the quotes he has posted in the left hand corner of each page.
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