Good Advice

"There is good and there is bad, but the coffee is always black." My brother and I didn't know what to make of these words that slipped through the dying lips of my mother Halloween night.  I've often thought of these words and what she was thinking. What do they mean to me, or to others who might hear them? Somewhere in them, I think she was trying to pass on some good advice.

Good advice. A precious jewel, rare among the thousands upon thousands spoken each day.  Organic Lime is a place to capture and share those proverbs, inspirations, events, or pieces of good advice that have made all the difference for us.  A place to pass on those important stories or words that have shaped our commitments and our personal philosophy about life.  A place to post, and read posts, about our glimpses into the wisdom of the organic life. A place to bookmark, to return to, when we feel like we've become a conglomerate of chemicals, byproducts, synthetic reality, and buzz-words. It's a place to exchange our Twinkie-clogged throats for a refreshing glass of ice water with a twist of lime.


So, in the accepted manner for a teacher to perform, I will offer up a piece.  Prayerfully, somehow, somewhere, someone will move a step closer to their idea of "the good life" through this piece of good advice that I received twenty-two years ago.


The scene:
I was a senior in high school. A close friend of mine asked me if I was going to apply to college.  This friend, happened to be, and still is, one of the smartest people I know.  His father is smart, his mother is smart, and his sister is smart. In his family, it was a given that everyone goes on to college.


On occasion, throughout our high school years together, my friend would invite me over to his house. I remember getting grilled at Sunday night dinner by his well-meaning Italian family.  Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, all sharing a common destiny and language, and me- the Oregonian "friend" of the rising star. I came from moms who went shopping in their curlers, and dads who drove eighteen-wheelers. He came from nuclear physicists, psychologists, and attorneys.


The elders would take turns asking me about my grades and what my future plans were.  They would exchange guffaws and inside jokes about philosophical concepts and mathematical equations, the like of which I had no idea about.  All the same, though I felt a bit nervous about the whole scene, I felt that they were trying to teach me something.  Trying to inspire me. Trying to invite me in to witness a new world of possibilities.  Lovingly, they would, without fail, give me good advice.  One piece of which, I have never forgotten.  It was uttered by this close friend of mine the night of our graduation.


Friend: "So, are you going to college?"


Me: "I don't know. I think I'm going to take some time off and just work."


Friend: "Look at it this way: In five years, you will be five years older. You can be five years older with a degree or without one. You might as well have a degree to go along with it."


Me: (dumbstruck).  It hit me like a sledge hammer to the face. It was so obvious, so simple, so profound, yet something that had never, ever, crossed my mind.  I know it sounds silly to you, but for ME, Wowwwww.... It made so much sense.  If I had to be older anyway, why not have more going for me when I get there? Right then, I changed my mind.


Today, I have an  M.A. I am still taking classes for additional certificates and degrees as I write to you now (classes start Jan. 18).  And many, many times, as I have become frustrated with the grind of attending classes, writing papers, juggling family responsibilities, and planning lessons for my own students, I have reminded myself that five years from now, I will be five years older. I might as well be five years older with more degrees behind me to go along with it.


J.P. Lethcoe


Now go ahead, share your thoughts on this advice, or post your own eye-opening precept to share with the rest of us.  Here's to "the good life"... the flourishing life, (the "Eudiamonia" as Aristotle would say)... for us, it's Organic Lime.