My sister's going through finals, my wife's birthday is Sunday, and for some reason I'm in a reflective mood.
The following words are from David Brooks, a columnist from the New York Times. He's trying to figure out what to tell people as he speaks at the graduation ceremony of the high school that he graduated from 30 years ago.
"At the moment, I’m thinking of talking about the chief way our society is messed up. That is to say, it is structured to distract people from the decisions that have a huge impact on happiness in order to focus attention on the decisions that have a marginal impact on happiness.
The most important decision any of us make is who we marry. Yet there are no courses on how to choose a spouse. There’s no graduate department in spouse selection studies. Institutions of higher learning devote more resources to semiotics than love.
The most important talent any person can possess is the ability to make and keep friends. And yet here too there is no curriculum for this.
The most important skill a person can possess is the ability to control one’s impulses. Here too, we’re pretty much on our own.
What young people really need is a lesson in how to choose a spouse and how to make and keep friends.
Interesting comments. I would second all of his comments without reservation.
I'd also like to express my gratitude for the institutions that did teach me those important lessons: good parents, church and the other members, and a couple of very good role models at school.
While I'm still working on the ability to control all of my needless impulses, I think I'm doing a pretty good job at the friends one, and I totally hit a home run with the spouse thing.
1 comment:
As I read this, I was thinking Mr. Brooks seemed to quote your mother: "The most important decision any of us make is who we marry." And the other points are very reflective of many general conference talks I've heard. Funny how the prophets are ahead of the game like that.
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