Turning 16

The Rite of Passage and Why History means something

My daughter is turning 16 in two weeks. Do you remember that rite of passage? I remember getting my license and my mom’s Volvo where the heater never worked that well and the car shook a bit.

Do you remember that rite of passage?

Last Saturday night when she was practicing driving with me instead of going out with her friends, I asked her:

“What are you going to do once you have your license that you can’t do today?”

She shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

Of course she knows.

She just can’t describe it yet.

She’s imagining a future version of herself with a little more independence.

That thing we all crave Freedom.

And to think she was a baby depending on me all the time. Who knew?

Believe me, as much as I enjoyed walking my baby around, I waited for this day when she can just drive herself around.

I just knew that it was worth the time.

We make decisions today because of a tomorrow that doesn’t exist yet and those decisions matter.

The problem is how to decide if the facts we need to base our decisions on are accurate or not.

The NY Times even wrote awhile back that it’s probably not smart to play with your kids.

You can make stuff up in a society where we not only do not respect history, but view it as if it does not exist. Scott Adams, the late great cartoonist, was a big believer of this. But I’m sure there were caveats attached. As he taught his viewers how to create expectation for the future.

You won’t really be able to without an understanding of where we were.

But for everyone else when there is no belief in the past and that you can make your future that means facts and data are not that important, since the present and present-day reality is all that matters.

Hence, the future will handle itself.

That is a heavy dose of cynicism that you can easily fall into.

I don’t know about you, but every meaningful decision I’ve ever made depended on looking ahead while standing on what came before with a little bit of luck.

But if our generations hope for the future, not just the past is put into jeopardy that is really scary.

Here are some statements and voices in everyone’s mind as they think about it:

We study because of the career we hope to have.

“Why bother? AI will replace that job anyway.”

We save because we expect retirement.

“Your money will be worthless by then.”

We buy businesses because we believe customers will still exist.

“What if the entire industry disappears?”

We invest because productive assets have generally become more valuable over time.

“Yes... but this time is different.”

Those are perfectly reasonable concerns. And shame on our leaders for creating an environment of FUD (fear, uncertainty, despair).

Without some belief that tomorrow resembles yesterday in important ways, planning becomes impossible. I believe it’s essential for my kids’ generation to put things into context that nothing is new under the sun. It’s just in a shiny new package.

If we let every uncertainty stop us from acting, we never leave the driveway.

But when I see kids and their beautiful hope for the future I know there will always be a chance.

My daughter isn’t waiting until she knows every road, every traffic jam, and every destination she’ll ever visit before getting her license.

She learns the rules, studies those who’ve driven before her, accepts there will be surprises... and starts the engine.

As for you, my older and wiser readers…KNOW HISTORY.

Listen to the great businessmen and investors, and you’ll get a nice view of history that they lived through and what they discovered by reading about it.

Unfortunately, history doesn’t hand us a map. It gives us a compass. Our Northern Light.

What was your first drive when you got your license?

Did you know before you stepped behind the drivers seat?

I just remember getting my license, climbing into my mom’s Volvo, and feeling like the world had suddenly become a little bigger.

It wasn’t about the car but the fact I can go somewhere on my own.

The road less travelled sometimes works out better.

But who wants to be in the wild and desert? I think for most of us, we would like to learn a bit from the mistakes of others and know that these journeys in life have been experience by people you admire. Signposts if you may.

But when you’re 16, all you really need is a full tank of gas.

And when your a little older than that, some faith.

Hit it.

PS. Find me a better selling proposition for a movie than “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark... and we’re wearing sunglasses.”

I don’t write to predict the future. I write to put it into context. If you’d like more essays connecting markets, history, business, and life, subscribe below.