Youth

Grady told me a quote years ago that I didn’t truly understand until I was about 20 or 21 years old. Once I began to understand, I’ve used it in a few of my Graphic Art pieces, and I say it a lot of the time too.

"Youth is wasted on the young"
-- George Bernard Shaw

It means that young people have everything going for them physically; they’re in the best health they will ever be in; their minds are sharp and clear BUT they lack patience, understanding and wisdom which results in so much wasted effort. Whereas someone who’s lived and learned now knows what to do with all that ability of the body but now doesn’t have the body to do it with! To put a finer point on it, youth lack the capacity to appreciate their condition.

Each day that passes, it becomes more and more clear to me.

I had a long conversation with an old friend, Nicole, today… ended up keeping me up WAY past the time I wanted to go to bed (and I think I’m running on pure Mt Dew now,) but now that I’m on the other side of the conversation, and she’s left for horseback riding lessons, it was an enlightening conversation. We talked about youth, and the innocent times you have as a child. Growing up in Southern New Hampshire… and how sheltered we were in our little town. How my entire life (then, and now) I’ve always opted for a small “crew” of friends rather than a large number of people I just “know.” Our crew back then could fit a small Middle School lunch table, but we did nearly everything together. The exception to this was two or three people that, because of what part of town they lived in, went to the old Middle School, but they were included as much as possible. (This was back when, for the most part, everything you did was based out of school…)

We talked a while on the damn TV people that keep nix’ing the best old shows of our youth, and how the stations we watched back then only have crap on nowadays… and how much smaller Broadway and Crystal Ave seem to be now that we’re a decade older than we were the first time we all walked them together (specifically, Nicole and I.)

All in all, I got my nostalgia fix, which I have badly needed… oddly enough, Nicole is usually the last person I expect to talk about the past… but that’s alright. I got to talk to an old friend, and remember the good times I had as a child at the same time. The sleep deprivation is worth it… and I’ll be fine tomorrow, I still have 9 hours before I have to get up for work

Much love to all,
Matthew