This post is for my GenX friends (the YOU in these diagrams).
Here are ten ways to perceive our past, present, and future tenses—because time waits for nothing except light. Triangulate yourselves accordingly.
WIN 1:
WE WIN WHEN WE KNOW MORE THAN WE SHOULD (WHICH WE DO)
And we all know more than we’ve been taught because we’ve be alive longer than we’ll ever be in school (fingers crossed forever). Uncrednetialled knowledge is the majority of human history. Work your sneaky-magic brains.
WIN 2:
WE WIN WHEN WE SMILE IN OUR OWN WRANKLY SKIN
Our weird, decaying meat costumes are always ours to wear in our own odd ways. Flaunt whatever you are. Who cares who likes it? You’re more than fine. See also: Rule 34 of the Internet.
WIN 3:
WE WIN WHEN OTHERS THRIVE ON OUR OFTEN CHEAP BUT ALWAYS FUNCTIONAL WATCHES
If you have time you have power. So use it.
Break cruel cycles. Build helpful legacies. Do whatever you want: but know that once you give the future away, it’s not ever again yours.
WIN 4:
WE WIN WHEN KNOW OUR CULTURAL PLOT POINTS
What we do with what shaped us is what matters both now & later. So don’t be somebody your descendants and their friends will mock. Play loud the good shit.
WIN 5:
WE WIN WHEN WE TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY WE WERE NOT GIVEN
Don’t blame us—unless we don’t bother to fix what we found to be broken. But if we fail to help and only chatter? Cancel us into shameful oblivion.
WIN 6:
WE WIN WHEN WE PUT OUR ASSETS TO WORK
They may not be everything, but by now, they are enough to somehow matter. Compounding interest means you can fund the grandchild of a stranger into lofty spaces you’ll never see. Do more generous math.
WIN 7:
WE DON’T GIVE UP ON OUR OWN BRAINS
Because if we don’t pay further attention, we’ll be further ignored. Old people get that way when they stop listening, learning, and engaging.
WIN 8:
WE WIN WHEN WE AND INVEST IN CURRENCIES THAT ARE MORE THAN MONETARY
Damns and hours and trees and calories matter more than dollars and cents. Investments need futures. We need to bet on tomorrow. Go long on the future even if it feels weird to you.
WIN 9: WE WIN WHEN START THINKING BEYOND OURSELVES
Our investments can foster the planet’s forever, if we let them. Plant a stupid tree already. Hug a kid who needs a hero. We’re only as influential as the hopes we invest in.
WIN 10: WE WIN WHEN WE HELP
And if nobody notices because something didn’t die? THAT IS A WIN. BECAUSE SOMETHING DID NOT DIE. You’re never going to get a thank-you note or a bronze plague from an endangered species (or endangered person). Help the special entities anyway.
High fives to my not-yet-truly-elderly friends.
<3
Hagy on Steroids ! woah
+ "Flaunt whatever you are. Who cares who likes it? You’re more than fine."
+ Build helpful legacies
+ don’t be somebody your descendants and their friends will mock. Play loud the good shit.
+ Don’t blame us—unless we don’t bother to fix what we found to be broken.
+ Do more generous math.
+ Old people get that way when they stop listening, learning, and engaging. 🤯
+ Damns and hours and trees and calories matter more than dollars and cents. YES!!! 🤯🤯
+ We’re only as influential as the hopes we invest in.
+ And if nobody notices because something didn’t die? THAT IS A WIN. BECAUSE SOMETHING DID NOT DIE.
🤯🤯🤯 this was a mind-blowing read !