Random Reflections at 65

Max Stearns

1. There’s an inverse relationship between my actual pace at running a mile as compared with my perceived pace in doing laps around the sun.

2. Experiences are better to collect than things; after you’re gone, your loved ones will almost certainly cherish the former more than the latter.

3. Large groups often get things profoundly wrong.

4. Well-educated people often get things profoundly wrong.

5. Having a moral core is helpful when anchors unmoor and seem, as if defying gravity (apologies to Cynthia Erivo) to drift apart.

6. Admonish those you might influence when it matters, but try as best you can to be respectful of those for whom the price of principle might be higher.

7. We learn more about our own minds when engaging with minds unlike our own.

8. We learn more about our culture when engaging with cultures unlike our own.

9. Engaging and embracing are different words.

10. We better understand our failings by trying to understanding how others have failed or avoided failing.

11. We better define our success when we don’t let others (apologies to Inigo Montoya) tell us what that word means.

12. Solipsism is the enemy of insight.

13. Love what you do but love those you are doing it for far more.

14. There’s nothing wrong with the number 13. Don’t let others diminish your accomplishments by ascribing them to luck.