If you graduated from high school or college anytime in the early 2000s like I did, I am sure you know the speech turned song “Wear Sunscreen”. Let me feel free to refresh your memory:
“Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.”
“Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.”
“Understand that friends come and go, but with the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need people who knew you when you were young.”
Yes, that speech, remember it now? Anyway, it was used by Baz Luhrmann and put into a song of sorts. I loved that speech. So much so that I googled after I first heard it (2005) and it was attributed as a speech given at a graduation by some guy. Some sites said it was Kurt Vonnegut at MIT, others listed no author.
I haven’t thought about that speech in years, until when reading a fantastic collection of articles by a Chicago Tribune columnist, there it was! It was an article, from a Chicago newspaper, from a woman columnist. Mind blown.
I guess it was naive for me to trust the internet in correctly citing the author of a speech or quote; but it is something a lot of people do.
Note to self, either take the time to properly research where the information you love and were affected by came from or don’t accredit it to anyone- just say its a piece you love. This goes for my facebook “favorite quotes” and should go for yours too.