I do remember plenty from my past, but I’ve forgotten a lot too.

Today’s prompt at Ethical ELA was to write a letter of advice to yourself and a particular time in life. Honestly, I’ve made more mistakes than who laid the rail. I really don’t want to go there.

Remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”? Well, if not, the basic premise is Dr. Heidegger invites four of his venerable friends to participate in an experiment. The key question is if they drink from the fountain of youth and can have their comely previous selves returned, will they change? Will they be able to revise their behavior? Show they’ve learned from their previous mistakes? Will they be wiser or revert to their former selves. Wow, wouldn’t that be interesting to discover about yourself? I’m afraid I’d fall into the same stupid behavior. But, boy, I often wish I did know then what I do know now, but I am the type of person who learns from experience and by making stupid mistakes. Live and learn is what I say.

Consequently, I wasn’t going to uncover all my struggles or accomplishments in a letter poem to myself at any age. Instead, I wrote this sage little ditty.

listen, 
I’m going 
to keep
this 
short and sweet--
                              start running
                                             every day
                                                             RUN!

BE 20 February 2024