Anonymous wrote:Check out this old piece on what makes a person of quality written for Expo 67 (Montreal). Some of the key points still ring true.

https://fee.org/articles/a-person-of-quality/

Anonymous wrote:The older I get the more I realize just how vulnerable and fragile people are, how easily scared and hurt. How we all long for love and belonging. It makes me feel more compassionate towards myself and others, and really makes me appreciate displays of true courage.

I also feel more and more like the world really is sick. Racism, genocide, cancer, shootings, gun culture. Not to mention the more mundane trials of life like loneliness in marriage, feeling excluded, hating your job, feeling misunderstood by your family.

I'm not a pessimist and I'm not a religious fanatic, but there's so much deeply wrong with the world that it actually strengthens my faith in God. We are so needy and screwed up as a people. Yet we're also so capable of selfless acts of love and courage.

Anonymous wrote:The older I get the more I realize just how vulnerable and fragile people are, how easily scared and hurt. How we all long for love and belonging. It makes me feel more compassionate towards myself and others, and really makes me appreciate displays of true courage.

I also feel more and more like the world really is sick. Racism, genocide, cancer, shootings, gun culture. Not to mention the more mundane trials of life like loneliness in marriage, feeling excluded, hating your job, feeling misunderstood by your family.

I'm not a pessimist and I'm not a religious fanatic, but there's so much deeply wrong with the world that it actually strengthens my faith in God. We are so needy and screwed up as a people. Yet we're also so capable of selfless acts of love and courage.

Amazin wrote:From the start of your career set up an "FU Fund". At some point you will want to make a job or career change and you need the $$ resources to do so. For many years my wife and I saved one of our dual incomes. That allowed her at one point to quit her corporate job and start her own business which was soon successful. That success and the FU fund eventually allowed me to quit my corporate job and pursue more entrepreneurial ventures which also turned out to be very successful. After selling one company I was jobless for two years before starting another business. It too has worked out nicely. All of this is due to our having lived modestly for years in order to create the bank roll we needed to invest in ourselves without putting our family's needs at risk. We are now mostly retired but work part time and have plenty of resources to live well and give back.

Anonymous wrote:I'm over 50 and have made plenty of mistakes but the best thing I have learned is to not question making mistakes. The lessons about myself and others I learned were invaluable. Like how resilient and creative I am. Or who really loves me as opposed to who just said they did. Mistakes give you a clarity of mind that you can bank on to foresee the future and help you avoid disaster. It gives you humility that helps you empathize with someone else who is struggling to make good decisions without the benefit of support. The purpose of life is not to be happy but to survive. Those moments of happiness are like spectacular sunsets; so painfully beautiful you want to in code them into your dna but the moment they fade so too does the memory. You would have none of the positives in your life without those negatives. If you had made better choices some doors would have opened for you but some would have closed and it would be a mistake to think that would not have cost you as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call your parents. Tell them you love them. They won't be there forever.

+ 1. And apologize for any wrongs. There is nothing like wanting to say your sorry and not being able to, for the rest of your life.

Anonymous wrote:

Amazin wrote:From the start of your career set up an "FU Fund". At some point you will want to make a job or career change and you need the $$ resources to do so. For many years my wife and I saved one of our dual incomes. That allowed her at one point to quit her corporate job and start her own business which was soon successful. That success and the FU fund eventually allowed me to quit my corporate job and pursue more entrepreneurial ventures which also turned out to be very successful. After selling one company I was jobless for two years before starting another business. It too has worked out nicely. All of this is due to our having lived modestly for years in order to create the bank roll we needed to invest in ourselves without putting our family's needs at risk. We are now mostly retired but work part time and have plenty of resources to live well and give back.

The problem I have with your "life lesson" is that you wasted away both of your best years on extreme frugality. Now that you are old and have more $$ in the bank,I'm not sure this is an entirely good thing. Time is the most valuable resource and we need to balance how we use balance time with financial progress, particularly during our younger years. I don't believe waiting til the end.

Anonymous wrote:Drama doesn't find you. You either create it or associate with it. Of course, I had to learn this the hard way. I'm 45 and finally eliminating the drama.