a letter to youth by Eric McIntyre
“ If you do what is easy now , life will be hard later ; if you do what is hard now , life will be easy later .”
It ’ s tempting to take all of the shortcuts and do whatever it is that you want to , however you want to do it , and whenever you want to do it . But that costs you something down the line that you wouldn ’ t be willing to pay , had you know up front .
It ’ s easy to sleep with all the women you want to , but it ’ s hard having five different baby mamas , or catching an STD , or living with HIV . As a teen and young adult , if you don ’ t put forth your best efforts now , to get as much education as you can and to set yourself up right , then later you ’ ll be struggling just to stay afloat or even getting established in the first place .
It is so worth putting in the hard work now , so that later you can have enough time to do what you want to do in life , or have what you want to have . Right now is not forever … later is ! I wish someone had told me that if I spent my teens and early 20s doing what is hard , that mid-20s through my 60s would be easy .
Take a look at your idols or people in their profession ( legal or illegal ). What are they doing at the age of 40 , 50 , or 60 ? There ’ s a reason why you don ’ t see older drug-dealers on the block , and it isn ’ t because they ’ re in a mansion . Most of us are dead or in prison with lengthy sentences .
Your peers may pressure you to do one thing , but they have the same point of view as you do . In essence , they ’ re like young lions in high grass running towards a cliff , with you in tow . As lions they don ’ t listen to ‘ say giraffes ,’ because they aren ’ t cool or potential kings of the jungle . But the giraffes can see further than the lions ( you ) can in that high grass , avoiding the cliff of disaster …
So take it from me , a mouth of a mature lion who is laying on a tree branch high above the savanna . You ’ re running full speed after a gazelle , something attractive in your eyes that ’ s leading you off a hundred-foot cliff of disaster . Will you survive the fall ? Possibly , but why ? At best you will live injured when you could have just turned around . So , find a better way to take care of yourself and your family .
You can make the hard decisions now or later . But while you ’ re young , the heavy-lifting isn ’ t so heavy . Sacrifice now and succeed later . Succeed now and you ’ ll sacrifice later . Choose wisely !
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