Rant

When I was 18 my dad tried to stop me from getting into drugs by telling me how bad they were. I pointed out that he and his friends were habitual drugs users throughout my childhood (in fact I have many crazy memories of great days out in the countryside when all the adults were on acid). He responded by pointing out that he had the "benefit of hindsight." Couldn't argue with that and the phrase has stuck with me since. I still took the drugs though. 

bayoubill


Since I have too much free time on my hands this kind of stuff crosses my mind. My kids shouldn't get mad when I offer advice it's not that I'm wise it's I've done a varied collection of stupid #&*# to steer clear of and their opinion of my intelligence is like judging a fish on it's ability to climb a tree 

Here's how I tend to think of things, Bill. You can only offer the advice as you've lived it yourself. Hopefully it doesn't go in one ear and out the other with your kids. That said, though at times we can bash on today's youth (your kids excluded of course) they are smarter than we believe they are. What may have been something WE would fail at years ago, might not be so far-fethced today in THIS world.
 
The other thing is, sometimes we just (as much as it pains us) have to let them fail and be there to catch them if or when they fall without saying "I told you so". We learned from experience, sometimes they need to do the same, ya know? My father was a VERY successful busineman. When he and I talk about "business related stuff" his ideas, though good ones, would not work in my business plans. The reason being....it's a totally new world today in 2013 than it was in 1980 and my dad was a 2 mil per year business owner. As the world changed, my dad didn't change with it and continued his "old ways". It cost him everything and at 77 years old, he works a 40 hour work week once again. Sometimes when things don't look good, they may actually look better than we think, ya know?
 
Quick story for you that you may find pretty funny. This is some of the "old ways" my father was stuck in that came back to haunt him. Proof that sometimes "things don't appear as they seem".
 
In the early 70's, my father was into investing. He went to a meeting to where he was asked to put up 100k for a chain of convenience stores that were to be opened in parts of the East Coast. These stores would compete with 7 Eleven stores, Cumberland Farms, Heritage...which were all popular here.
 
The dudes behind the investment went on to mention "and by the year 2000, we will also turn these little stores into SUPER stores where we will pump gasoline and there will be one on every corner." So far, so good...until the dude opened his mouth again and said "and we will call these stores WaWa." With that, 20 investors including my dad, stood up, said "you're out of your freakin' tree" and walked out never thinking anything of it. My dad to this day thinks that was the worst name they could have chosen that would never catch on....until he saw everything materialize exactly as they planned it. LOL!
 
To this day, there is a WaWa on just about every corner in NJ, Delaware, PA, and other states. They sell gasoline and have turned just about all of them into Super WaWa's. My father kicks himself every day knowing that a simple 100k which at that time wouldn't have even affected him to lose, would have made him a billionaire today. So....sometimes things aren't as they seem even when we think we're making the right decision. :)
 
-Danny