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LAST MINUTE MUSINGS: A note from the future for the class of 2023
I thought I spent a lot of time thinking about time travel ... until I heard Alice Howard’s graduation speech on Friday.
Alerted one day earlier that she was salutatorian of the class of 2023, the newly-minted Greencastle High School graduate found herself needing a speech, and fast. So she turned to a subject about which she, by her own admission, spends an inordinate amount of time thinking.
But in making her speech about time travel, young Miss Howard didn’t take the thought experiment where I thought she might, with 18-year-old Alice traveling forward to see what 30-year-old, 50-year-old or even 70-year-old Alice might be doing with her life.
No, instead, she got to the more important question of how her decisions right now might affect those hypothetical future versions of herself.
Would my future self hate me?
That’s pretty heavy. Heck, my graduation speech 24 years ago was a poem that involved me changing what hat I was wearing four times.
But Alice got me thinking about how 18-year-old Jared relates to 42-year-old Jared.
Make no mistake, I don’t hate him. But I could probably give him some guidance.
A few thoughts that sprung to mind included: Take more science classes. Study abroad in college. Pursue an advanced degree. Don’t go into journalism.
But in my own thinking about sci-fi nerdery, a guiding principle has always been the butterfly effect.
For those unfamiliar, the butterfly effect is an idea in chaos theory regarding the interdependence of all objects and events in the universe, with the central metaphor being that a butterfly flapping its wings in Asia could, through a series of air movements and other events, lead to a tornado in the Great Plains of the United States.
In short, seemingly small causes have large and unforeseen effects.
So the chief problem, as it relates to my life, is that this alternate Jared who studied physics, spent a year in Scotland and went on to grad school in some other field might not have all the most important things in my life right now.
Basically, I can’t imagine any version of life that doesn’t have my wife, two kids and the life and circle of people that we’ve built right here in our adopted home of Greencastle and Putnam County.
So I wouldn’t tell him to do any of those things.
In smaller ways, though, maybe I do have a few pieces of advice for 1999 Jared. I hope the class of 2023 might also take them to heart:
• Take more walks. You notice more at that pace.
• Read more books. But also get out in the world they describe.
• Say yes more often. Say no more often. Someday this contradiction might make sense. It does to me.
• Hug the people who helped get you here. They’ll be gone sooner than you think.
• Embrace who you truly are. Masks are for Halloween.
• Don’t lose your faith — whatever that might mean to you.
I’m sure there’s more that I would like to say, but 18-year-old me probably wouldn’t listen anyway.
So, no, future Jared doesn’t hate 1999 Jared. In the same way, I doubt future Alice will hate 2023 Alice.
The good news is that Alice — who seems much wiser than I did at that age — reached this conclusion on her own, citing a quote from author Annie Dillard: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
With that, she offered the following advice to herself and classmates: “Make sure, in the moment, that I’m having as many happy days as I can.”
I can’t really add to that, except to say: Congratulations, class of 2023. Have fun out there.