Time lines

I was asked a question over thanksgiving break from one of my neighbors. She was trying to impress her son, and keep him on the right path by asking a college kid, 'What do you do with your free time?'.... I guess she wanted me to answer, I study, study, study. Honestly, that is what I do, I study my tiny heart away. (that makes sense, right?). Getting back on track I answered her, "I look at time lines' which I do do. More then normal people, if normal people look at time lines. I analyze them, not only for school but because its also interesting. After saying that, she had a blank expression on her face as if I was supposed to inspire her son by saying the perfect mixture of hard work and play leads to success. She really thought I was weird, and after she noticed her son walk away, she asked me, 'Time lines? really?' I asked her, 'what do you know about the world?' she responded, 'I don't know, I know whats going on'. I told her, history unlocks the future, seeing how I am that college kid, I fly with the big boys. She was still really confused, I did not know how to answer her, so I told her this. 'The only way to fix the future is to learn from our past', a pretty well known saying. When I saw that I was losing her, I blurted out, 'its also interesting, especially because I am a history major'. She then understood why I said, I study time lines.

After she thanked me for attempting to inspire her kid to succeed, I told her 'you cant inspire your kid, he has to inspire himself, because no matter what happens, the only way to inspire someone is if they inspire themselves.'

For the first time in my life, the college kid gave the adult advice.

L.C.