To introduce this installment, I’ll tell a story about a friend of mine. I’ll call her Barbie. Barbie’s one of the best people I know; fun, witty, intelligent, driven. She also would really like to have a family someday and would be a great mom. Enter Ken. Barbie recently started dating Ken about four months ago. From the outside, Ken seems like the All-American guy; big smile, handsome, fun and athletic. Needless to say, Barbie’s crazy about Ken. But Ken smokes pot. Why is that relevant? Because smoking pot (especially regular marijuana use during late-teens/early-20’s) greatly increases the likelihood of infertility for males as well as the chance for genetic defects if they do have kids. In other words, Ken has far fewer swimmers now and the ones he does have are much less mobile and genetically screwed up. Ken probably thinks he’s just having fun, but he doesn’t know he’s sowing the seeds of future pain for him and Barbie if things progress and they try to have a family together. If they actually do have kids, those children are likely to have learning disabilities or birth defects. It’s tragic.
Nothing happens in a vacuum. It’s the blessing and curse of being human. We are privileged to be able to associate with other people and have them be a part of our lives. On the other hand we can be hurt and cause pain to others. There are many things I wish I would have thought of or been aware of before I did them, because I know they have caused a great deal of pain to others – especially those closest to me. Unfortunately in life there are no “do-overs”, no bogies.
What do we do? All we can do is learn to be able to look back and learn from our mistakes and try to move forward in a better way, so we are sowing the seeds of future success and happiness for ourselves, but more importantly, for our loved ones.
Sow good seeds gentlemen – you will reap happiness.
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