I subscribe to a mailing list called the listserve. The premise of this list is that daily, one subscriber is chosen at random, and allowed to send a single email which goes out to everybody. I like it because it's a good way to hear perspectives that I otherwise wouldn't.

Last night, the day's writer asked the question: if you could give one piece of advice to an infant and have them hold it close for their entire life, what would you advise? Given the circumstances, I couldn't not devote the time to develop an answer. Here it is:

I don't know what you will develop into. You don't know yet, either. Nobody does, or can. What I do know is that you will be special. You come from exceptional parents: your mother has determination, drive, an intensity and ferocity and simple unstoppable will which has carried her forward past many obstacles. She's indomitable and charming and witty and always smells good, even after a gym session. She has an iron integrity and always does the right thing, even when there's an associated cost, even when there's no visible harm to do otherwise.

I can't claim these attributes for myself; my path involves less effort, because I'm someone on whom fortune has smiled. I'm smart enough never to have needed to work hard, which sometimes feels like a curse but really, really is a blessing. When playing board games, I win an unreasonable portion of the time. If you rank the population by living an interesting life, I'm easily in the 90th percentile.

You will have the best attributes of both of us, and will outshine us like the sun does the moon. This isn't pressure; it's destiny¹.

Who will you become? We don't know. We can't. We can only watch, and nurture, and guide, and educate, and learn from you as you develop into a person who could knock us down with a feather. You can be the most popular person in your class, or an introvert with a handful of lifelong friends. You can be a hard mathematician, or a cultured playwright. Or both! The only person who can define your limits is you.

So be yourself. Love yourself. Never stop striving, and never settle. Be satisfied with the person you are, and be unsatisfied with any station in life to which you rise. If you're not the most qualified person in the room, improve yourself until you are. You have the potential. It's up to you to realize it.