Letters to Youngsters: Part One

 I interviewed some residents today for a project I'm calling "Letters to Youngsters."  Basically, I talked to them one on one, explaining the project and asking the following question: "If you could give any piece of advice to a person in their 20s, what would you tell them?"  These are some of the responses I got...

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"Stay home and do your work.  I guess you could have fun too, just don't get into trouble."
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"You have to realize what we had.  We just had water.  Know your fire safety.  You have all that technology - use it."
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"Learn how to do things so you don't get into trouble.  Get up there and you push that darn broom.  If you get used to hard work early, then it won't seem so hard."
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"Stop smoking and drinking.  Get a job and spend your money on other things.  And help your mother and dad."
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"Listen to your mother.  Help them out.  They've had the experience.  And use common sense."
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"Young people need to ask advice of the 'old people' and stop sticking up their noses.  When I was a teenager, I was thrilled to have a more mature person take a chance on me."
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"I'll hang around with you, but if you're gonna run away I'm gonna throw rocks at you.  When you people are young, you think about everything but age."
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"Try to stay home.  All I hear from those young guys is 'I wanna go to the Army, I wanna go to the Army.'  Why?  All that fighting isn't helping anything."
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"The more you learn, the better you're going to be.  And keep your children as close as you can."
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"These later days have ruined everybody.  People just walk down the street and shoot people.  I hate it!"
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"Be careful when you marry.  Very careful.  Make sure he loves you.  A loveless marriage is worse than no marriage at all.  Go with him a while.  Take your time.  I went with my husband 11 years before we were married.  We were happily married for 27 years until he died from a heart attack."
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"I didn't get married until I was 27.  But you know it varies from person to person.  Maybe that's right for some people.  You just gotta know if you're ready to settle down or if you're not.  'Cause when you get married, you have to settle down.  All of a sudden there's two opinions, and two people have to be satisfied; so you have to be ready to always think of the other person.  Married life is not a single life.  You just can't do that.  Age don't mean anything either.  Some people just aren't the marrying type, doesn't matter how old they get."
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Look for "Letters to Youngsters: Part Two" coming soon!