Listen To The Geezers

Going to take a lighter direction today after the tone of the last few days.

What follows is life advise from some wise old men. The 130 members of the San Luis Obispo County Retired Men’s Coffee Cabinet were recently asked: “Based on your 70-plus years of life experience, what advice would you give this years college graduates?”. The following advice represents 9,100 years of experience by men who have been successful in all areas of employment.

“Learning to love your job is easier than finding a job you love” – Tom Stuelpnagel, retired CEO

“You’ve learned some things in school, but you will learn a lot more from your mistakes” – Don Morris, retired Cmrd., U.S. Navy

“Over the past years, well-intentioned and experienced professorshave challenged you with textbooks and other reading materials. Keep up a lifetime habit of reading – choose books and magazines that are better than those you’ve been required to read.” – George Chucas, retired Cal Poly administrator

“Get all of the information you can, than make a choice. Don’t play the game of what might have been” – Bill Epstein, retired chemist

“My father once told me ‘He who never does more than he gets paid for, never gets paid for more than he does” – Anonymous

“In 27 years with my company, I saw a lot of people come and go. But in all that time, I can remember only two who were terminated because of an inability to satisfactorily do their jobs. By far, virtually all of the firings were for ‘people problems.’ Firmly plant in mind that personality and ability to work well with people is the most important aspect of achievement or failure ” – J.I.F. Clary, administrator

And if I may be so forthcoming as to think that I could add my own advice to the words of these great gentlemen, my advice would be: “The biggest decision you will ever make is marrying the right person. A spouse is capable of making good times bad, or bad times great. The right person will mean the difference between a wonderful life or a life that could have been.”

I dedicate this post to the most wonderful of spouses, my wife Cindy. And now dear readers, I ask YOU, what would your advice to the youth of today is.