Advice for My Children

I’m 34 and I have 2 children. And a mortgage. So now I’m supposed to be a full-fledged responsible adult. Soon I’ll be having to be a source of guidance to my young ones. What advice would I give them?

To tell you the truth I got me stumped there. For I really don’t have much don’t tell (other than universal mundane stuff such as “always wear your seat belts”). All I can say is: most things in life are beyond our control. So we need to know which is which.

We can’t choose our genes, our IQ level, our innate abilities, our inner drive. And some things we just love to do. What it boils down to is that either you have it, or you don’t. Successful businessmen, for instance, have no choice but to be so. Of course, knowing the right people and being at the right place at the right time also have a lot to do with it. But ultimately all they need to do is to just be themselves: take risks, form networks, make things that people want, put in the effort, execute well. After that it’s just a matter of time.

So if we’re destined to be schoolteachers or bureaucrats or architects or engineers or scientists because of who we are and where we come from, what, then, is within our sphere of influence?

Religion. Religion is something we can all choose, independent of personality and background. So I would tell my children to be Muslim, the essence of which is to worship none but the One True God and to pray 5 times a day. Other than that, I would try to give them the best education that I can, and after that, que sera, sera (what shall be, shall be).

4 April 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments