Letter to son, for when he is able to read

Jake, here’s how your life is going to be.

1.  People walk all over you, and you don’t even realize how.  This lasts for about the first twenty years or so.

2.  People walk all over you, and it makes you angry, but you don’t have the skills to do anything about it.  You will rebel against us, for example, in your teens.  It will take longer to realize the subtle ways the rest of the world operates.

3.  You use skills you learned to keep people from walking all over you, but you still get angry.  This is your thirties and probably forties (I’ll let you know, I’m still just 34).  You might be known as a tyrant if you are loud enough.  You are pretty loud now, and you’re only three!

4.  You use skills you learned to keep people from walking all over you, and you figure out a way to be outwardly nice about it.  This happens only if you are lucky, and probably only takes effect in your fifties and beyond, if at all.

Love,

Dad