Open letter to my grandson

Dear Andrew:

This year you are a senior in high school. You probably are immersed in school work and social life. Hopefully you are enjoying both. Now that you are seventeen, you should be enjoying the full joys of youth and also be thinking about your next step after graduation.

I want to share some thoughts about your future. In a few more months you will be graduating. What you are going to do after this year depends on the decisions you make. It is about these decisions that I wish to talk to you. The type of decisions you make will lead you to success or failure. I especially want to remind you that the decisions are yours alone, and the responsibility for making them is also yours. You are the sole decision maker. Do not blame others for the decisions you make in life.

As you know, we all have to make decisions daily. But it is the type of decisions we make that lead us down certain paths. If we make good decisions, than the road will lead to happiness and security. If we make bad decisions, the road will lead in the opposite direction and perhaps to total disaster.

Let’s say you and your friends go to a party and booze is flowing–maybe even a joint is passed around. You know what alcoholic drinks do to anybody even in moderation. Do you have to be reminded about marijuana and its effects? So what do you do? You can decide to join in and gamble that tomorrow no bad consequences will result. Or you can make a decision not to join in because you have a bigger goal and are not willing to pay the price that a bad decision may cost you. It’s your decision.

A “good” decision is easy to know from a “bad” one. Simply ask your mind and your heart what you should do. They will give you the correct answer based on your moral and ethical background. If after listening to your head and heart, should you decide to do what your impulses dictate instead, don’t blame anyone but yourself for any bad consequences. The decision is yours alone.

The results of good decisions will give you more respect and creditability among your classmates, teachers, and most of all, your family than any other thing you do. On the other hand, one bad decision can ruin you for life, perhaps even land you in jail, and permanently shut many doors of opportunity in your face. The stakes are high and so is the price for a wrong decision.

While it is impossible to predict in advance the end results of decisions, you can fairly well figure out the results from past decisions made either by you or by others. Unlike the animals, God gave us a memory in which to store the information needed to make sound decisions. He also gave us a moral conscience. Use it when making decisions.

I know your mother and father have instilled in you the mechanism for sound decisions. You are a young man now and must learn to stand on your two feet alone. Think and feel before deciding and you will never go wrong. Decide wisely.

Hopefully this brief discussion will motivate you to think about “decisions.” Remember, we are the end results of a series of good and bad decisions. Winners in life just make more correct decisions than losers. Be a winner. Strive for good decisions and all your dreams will come true. Enjoy your youth with all its vibrancy. Think before deciding.

With warm regards,

Grandpa

Strictly a personal view. Anthony Pellegrino writes every Monday and Tuesday. Mr. Pellegrino can be reached at tonypell@saipan.com