"Everyone's Free to Wear Sunscreen"

This is a name of a popular song by Baz Luhrmann giving advice to children.  There are certain lines in the song that I believe are really important to pay attention to.  He says, "Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders."

In a way, this could be interpreted as saying that life is more enjoyable and altogether better when people are younger.  I want to take a different perspective on this quote.  I believe that this means that all children should try their best to appreciate life as they possess it, and to not squander it.  It is easy for children not to appreciate their childhood, but when they can compare it to their future, they will wish for their childhood back again.

My advice to everyone reading this is to cherish all of their prized possessions and never take anything for granted.  I'm not telling everyone to be greedy, but usually, people don't realize the worth of their possessions or their families until they are taken away.  I never would have realized how precious my cousins are and how much they mean to me if one of my cousins hadn't died.  She was around my age, but she died very young.  I didn't know any better at the time, but there is something about death that finds a way into any situation in life, always reminding you of what life could have been, but will never be now.  Death is often just a sad experience that happens to everyone, but can be looked at from any point of view.  I try to view it as an opportunity for a family to grow closer together instead of each person wallowing in their own world of self pity.  Life is a simple yet intricate experience that can sometimes be wild, or it can be soothing.  It's like being a passenger in a car that is on a race track, but you have never seen the race track before in your life.  You are being hurled around unexpected corners and all you can do is sit and watch.

Everything seems better after you go through it.  This can be true in many different aspects of people's lives.  Individuals might look back into their past and finally realize why their parents made certain decisions, or why they weren't allowed to do certain activities.  Memories often deteriorate over time, and we remember enjoyable events as being better than they actually were. Negative experiences frequently diminish over the years.  It is our job to remember our childhood just as it was and when we grow up it is important that we realize that both the past and the present have positive and negative elements.  It is the combination of these events and perspectives that make us who we are.