Valuable advice for the times we live in

LADIES and gentlemen who have left school and done exams in 2021, you’re the future.

You know you’re getting old when your neighbours, family members or friends’ children are getting their exam results and ask what you got in your exam results.

My own meandering experience of life has been testing, seeing phones go from being in the house with a cable to being affordable to carry, use and fit in your pocket.

School leavers, don’t worry about the future; you’ll be told a vision of the future as we were in 1991 and probably live the nightmare result of said vision as we and parents were promised before us.

Don’t be reckless with not voting – men and women gave their lives for it; don’t put up with politicians who are reckless with your community or waste your money with fake promises and don’t deliver.

Don’t get upset if you don’t know what you want to do with your life or what career you want to do. Most people end up falling into jobs they now do with no plan.

Some politicians didn’t know which political party to join, some still don’t looking at the number of parties they have been members of since 1991.

When your 40-ish you’ll look back at life at times and see how much learning truly lay before you than at school.

Prince Harry’s wife tells you to limit the number of children you should have to save the planet but she then flies around in private jets. So get used to hypocrisy.

Your own children will create taxes to pay for government in your 40s so be a lifelong learner.

Maybe you’ll get married and divorced, but don’t forget you have to work at the relationship, it’s not like fast food. Look after your body, exercise, eat in moderation.

Accept you will worker longer than you did at school, cleaning a toilet as a cleaner is just as important as a lawyer to society.

Don’t trust apps to give directions if you follow them – you may get stuck in a dead end. Your brother and sister can help but don’t forget your parents or carers looked after you in some form from birth and paid for you to live and made sacrifices.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Parents will not understand unless you talk and they truly listen, politicians of all political parties will lie, cheat or misspend once in power.

As I look at the environment those of us in Generation X were born into from 1965 to 1980 who voted Labour in 1997 as they said things could only get better then 22 years later young and old united and crushed them under the red wall.

Congratulations on your exam results. I look at life for you as school leavers born in 2005 and wonder if I live to 70 in 2045 and you’re in your

40s, who will have a bigger crisis the way things are going?

Mark Walklate

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