CJ John Roberts' address about life.

 

I always wonder, what is the best advice you can give to someone? How do you get them all prep-up for life ahead? 

Mm...if you are rich, you can give them a great financial push ahead of many who have to start with little in the bank. But money can also push one to dig a trench so deep, he or she will have trouble getting out of.

And if you are not rich, how do you encourage your kid so that they are fired up enough when confronting the furnace of life? Well, there is some truth that if you are going through that furnace, the only way you can get out stronger is when the fire in you is hotter than the fire that seeks to consume you. How do you then fire up that spirit within for a lifetime of lighted and guided path for the journey ahead?

Some years back, CJ John Roberts gave a speech to ninth-grade graduates of Cardigan Mountain Boarding School. I think it sums up life rather well. It is a good advice to give to anyone looking for a good wake up call. Here is how he puts it. 

“Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why.

From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.

Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.

And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship.

I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. 

Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes."

Truly, he’s right. You know he is. You too are familiar with what he is saying. Whether you wish the cohort well or otherwise, the randomness of life will have its way with you. 

At some point in your life, you will be treated unfairly, suffer betrayal, be lonely, encounter bad luck, get your just or unjust deserts, lose, be looked down at, be ignored, or go through pain. Your kid will come to experience them too, no matter how much you try to insure their life against it. 

You can’t ensure he will make it to the desired school or course. You can’t ensure she will marry right. You can’t ensure fortune will always smile on his business venture. You can’t ensure her body will live up to its bargain. And you can’t ensure he will always follow the straight and narrow path. 

The last time I checked, life is still a box of chocolate. You never know what you’ll get. Some chocolate have already melted. Some are too hard. Some are too sweet. And some are too bitter. 

Genes, luck and character, they all play their part to pave a unique (sometimes daunting) path for each and everyone of us. Not everyone has their future path on surefootedness. 

I know some of you would rather just live and have less talk about it. What’s the point? How does CJ John Roberts’ speech change your life right? 

Anyway, life is never meant to be smooth sailing. A dingy in a vast ocean of uncontrollable/unpredictable tides and weather just about sums it all up, right? A speck of dust can’t will a change in the wind’s direction, so what’s the point?

Yet, the opportunity cost is even greater. Because, for every low, there is an even lower point we can go. For what are we if we lose faith in words? For what are we if we just live by autopilot? What are we if we can encourage a soul discouraged but keep mum because we just don’t think that it will make any difference? Yet, most times, it does make a difference. 

Words may be a part of the narrative, and action is the rest of it. Yet, CJ John Roberts echoes the wisdom of the ages, and for many who listen, even at their lowest depth, they can’t deny the power of its suggestion, even if it is just a nudge to change their direction. 

Let it echo in your spirit again, for what it’s worth, regardless of how deep you are in your situation. “Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortune.”

Yes, there is a message. There is a choice too. And you’ve heard about life throwing lemons at you, well, you can take CJ Roberts’ message as a shovel to dig yourself deeper in or dig yourself eventually out - one intentional shovel at a time. 

And it doesn’t take much from you, just that inborn ability to see hope as the message in your misfortune. And hope is always a good micro-start/step for a change in the needed direction.