Do YOU KNOW how to cope with this unordered and un‑asked-for expanse of time called adolescence and teenage?
Do you know how to fill these years with unbelievable happiness and joy?
How to saturate them with rich, full, abundant living?
Do you know how to lay a solid foundation for a successful, rewarding, fabulous future?
There is a way. And it's as sure as tomorrow's rising sun!
YOUNG men and women, what are your hopes, your dreams?
What do you want out of today? Out of tomorrow? Next week and next year?
Anything?
Sure you do!
You want what everyone else wants: money, fun, a car, maybe a job — all this adds up in your mind to one thing — HAPPINESS!
You want life and you want it now! You want to live, love, play and most of all "belong." You want action, challenge and success!
That Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow
Some few of you may already have specific goals in mind, but you don't know how to get there. For most, the goal is not really clear. But it's there nevertheless — the "in crowd," being accepted by other youths, a career, life, fun, action, love, romance and a good secure future.
You want to really live! And you want to live with a happy, tranquil mind.
So do I!
And I did so when I was sixteen. Am I now "over the hill" so to speak? Am I out of touch with life at sixteen, eighteen, or twenty-one?
No! I'm still young — I remember and I understand what it's like to be young. I hoped and dreamed, laughed and cried my way through those years just as you are doing today. Did I observe these years from the sidelines — an untouchable, biased, opinionated, nicey-nice, holier-than-thou spectator?
I partook freely and deeply — I lived every moment of those years — whether to my hurt or help is another matter — but I lived! I've been there, I know the problem and I know the answer!
In an age when no one really knows, where there are no absolutes and all is relative — do I dare know? Do I dare have the answer?
I do, and I can prove it!
Wait!
Before you decide I'm a real square, or offbeat, read on.
Becoming a Teenager
I remember reaching that magical age of 13 — teenager at last. From then on it was inevitable that I would live as the average adolescent and the typical teenager. Was my life average? I think so. Was it filled with the hopes and dreams, problems and disappointments, the heights of ecstasy and the depths of despair that all young people experience? Yes.
You see, I have run the route you are running. I have torn down and put back together cars and cycles. How many of you fellows know what an M.G. TD is?
Those of you in Britain should. The TD is a model of Britain's M.G. sports car. Some say it's the classic of the sport car field. I haven't forgotten how much fun it was to rebuild one from bumper to bumper, to completely rebuild the engine, rechrome the chrome, give it new suspension, a new top, and reupholster the interior and rework the body. I haven't forgotten how its candy-apple-red finish dazzled in the street lights. I will always recall how it attracted most men — and women. My buddies used to call it the "woman wagon."
I'm familiar with the exciting feeling of slipping into a bucket seat, snapping the safety belt, flipping the key to a hopped-up V-8, slamming a 4-speed in low and dumping the clutch.
I know how it feels to hear a cycle engine explode into life. And to jet along at breathtaking speeds with the throaty rumble of a cycle between my legs. I remember very well what it's like to scramble 4,200 miles on the back of a Harley CH — man, that's really living, that's exciting, challenging.
To have that wind blasting you in the face, sucking tears out of the corner of your eyes.
What am I — some kind of a greasy, black-jacketed, leather-booted, longhaired hood? No, just an average farm fellow that enjoys motors and machinery.
Speaking of the farm — is a golden Palomino really at the end of every rainbow? Some think so. I'll never forget the excitement of saddling a spirited pie-eyed, snorting, pawing "pony" — as we called them. I used to literally tremble with anticipation of testing my riding skill against a thousand pounds of brute strength. After the bone-rattling, head-snapping few minutes it took to "top out" my pony, I could savor the early morning crispness and beauty as I checked a herd of fat, sleek Angus. Did this seem like living when I was 17, 18, and 19? You bet. That was part of my dream.
I understand dreams — those that come true and those that don't!
Life in youth can, and should, be full, exciting, thrilling, moving, challenging and rewarding — some of my memories are.
But I can remember the bitter parts of my life as well as the sweet. Why? Because there is more of it to remember.
Life Can Be Pretty Nasty
It seemed that disappointment, doubt and disillusionment were always just around the corner. Trouble, trials and torment seemed to dog every step. Headaches, heartbreak, and hangovers always overshadowed those "good times" I had.
It's rather common to young people, isn't it? Again I say I know, I understand. And I also know the answer, the way to avoid or correct that familiar mountain of frustration.
Would you like to know the answer? You can, and it won't cost you a single thing!
Do you remember how disappointments and disillusionments began to steal the show at an early age? I too have learned there is no Santa Claus. And rabbits don't really lay eggs, do they?
I wanted to live while I was young — I wanted happiness, prosperity, security and also a great, huge, gigantic "blast" at age "teenager."
To my mind, money was a big part of the answer. Money talks. I liked money. Money was security. Money was an education. Money was fun. Money was a car, girl, boat and drink. As the saying goes, "no mon, no fun." I remember making, investing and losing a cool 10 grand all in one year and all before I was old enough to vote. That was no fun! I remember I was somewhat disillusioned not to mention disappointed. I was left with absolutely "zero." Complete failure is no fun.
I don't find it hard at all to remember what it's like to wake up in a strange apartment among strange people with a not-so-strange hangover. Ever try the proverbial seven-day drunk?
Don't. You're right — same old hangover, same old kickback.
Do psychedelic joints turn you on? They're another huge disappointment.
Do I remember what it's like to get a "Dear John" letter?
Yes! One more piece of security jerked out from under foot. Again and again and again and again.
Life can be pretty nasty. It seems to have a way of handing young people the short end of the stick every time.
I remember asking myself, Why? I asked myself if life was really as bad as it seemed. Surely things would start going my way "tomorrow."
They didn't.
I considered my personal life, the lives of those I mentioned above, and then took a look at the world situation. I took several days and contemplated the world and what it had to offer me. At this juncture in life my favorite saying became, "This life's just no stinking good."
Similar to your philosophy?
What's the answer? I asked myself that — just as you have.
I decided to find the answer or die. That's right — unless I could find an explanation for life — I'd had it.