For my baby girl
2008-05-01, 10:58 a.m.

Leno, all your blog text is in white. I can highlight it to read it, but I can't get all of it : (

Today's blog entry is going to be about temptation. About path straying. This one's for Rhania.

We don't get do-overs in life. We're forced to make quick decisions without knowing where they're going to lead, where they will put us in five years. Even bringing that orange juice to your lips instead of the tea can alter what you'll be doing 30 minutes from now (especially if it's caffeinated tea). But when we drink that orange juice, 3o minutes from now is the last thing we're thinking about.
Maybe that's a good thing. If we lived every second worrying about the next one we'd forget where we are. We'd be living for the unsure, instead of something we can be positive about - how that orange juice is going to feel sliding down your throat.
But we can live everything like that. Imagine if you had diabetes. Every piece of food has a magnified impact on your body.
When we make decisions about life in general we have to know what to give thought to, where to put our energy.
If it's a joint right now, or a paper that can mean your grade, which one's going to last longer?

My history teacher in high school used to have this poster on her wall (maybe it was my English teacher, but that's not the point) and the poster in essence said that ten years from now no one's going to remember what clothes you wore or what you did with your hair, but your grades, the jobs you choose, the friends you make, are going to break you or mold you into something wonderful.

Each and every person has a capacity for greatness. Hellen Keller was deaf AND BLIND yet she was still able to manage her life in an incredible, and inspiring way. If she can do it without any eyes or ears, I have no doubt in my ability, or what my friends and family are capable of with working eyes and ears.

There is never a have to in this life, there is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS a choice. And that choice is ALWAYS yours to make. If someone holds a gun to your head, you still have a choice. You still can make a decision.

Sometimes you make a decision based on how you feel now, and it doesn't require any rationality or forward thought. But few instances in life can lay claim to such consequence free mortality.

Just like we always have a choice, each choice always has a price.

If you choose to focus on school, guess what, you just may have less friends, and you just may no be able to get high tonight. Big fucking deal. If that's what's driving you then why the hell are you in college? If that's what's driving you, if that's what you really want, than fine. Those are the decisions you make and whatever decision you want for yourself I love you, and it's ok.

But I know you well enough to know that's not what you want for yourself. No matter how easy it is to say fuck it all, pass me the nonchalant devil-may-care attitude, that isn't you and it's never been you.

Like I always tell my students, a mistake is only an opportunity to learn. You make a bad decision, and you recover. It's not always the end of the world.
But the longer you wait to correct yourself, the harder it gets. The more difficult it is to remember who you are, and the things you want.

Stay focused. You'll love yourself more for it in the end.