What I want most for you my son is to know when and who to slow down.
The world will tug on you in many directions. It will covet and despise your indomitable physicality, clean conscious, searching intellect, and unrelenting drive.
You will feel all of these tugs at once and they will buzz down in your bones. You will think,
‘I am strong, I can do all things, carry all loads, and sacrifice nothing.’
You will not be correct.
You will be incapable of understanding why they claw at your coattails. You will be tempted to adjudicate and assist, to stop and accommodate.
Resist temptation. Let other boys hang back with the herd.
They will invoke much clamor about your striving. Every step you take will be met with much screeching. The higher you climb, the more the masses will resist.
You will need many gears over many years to carry on.
In all such moments, and daily in the morning, remind thyself,
‘I am but a man who does not know, and dare not owe, any man but me.’
