No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality

by Michael J. Fox

I think owning your burdens is half the battle. Still, it’s not that daunting if you look around and see what other people have to deal with.

Ultimately, I found that the philosophy of “less is more” works for me, which is convenient, because I have less. But as I’d discover, there’s more to less than I thought.

No one can tell us with certainty when all of this penis portraiture became part of life in Bhutan, but the oldest structure that sports a phallus is a fifteenth-century monastery. Today, these paintings adorn residences and businesses, and even some schools and restaurants.

What makes Gross National Happiness more than just a silly government policy is the earnestness of the population to cooperate and participate in the things that make life richer, and not just from an economic perspective.”

“If we were all to put our worst problem inside of a circle and then allowed to draw one out, we’d all take our own problem back.”

They aren’t like dads, whom you don’t want to disappoint, but like favorite uncles—the kind who let stuff slide, and who’d sneak you a beer when you were seventeen.

If you don’t take risks, there’s no room for luck.

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

“Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.” I accept the optimist part, but now, I also admit to its foolishness.

With gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable.

The last thing we run out of is the future.

We can all take something positive from the class of 2020; to accept what has happened in the past, to embrace the present, and to remain open to the probability that it will get better in the future.