Dear Freddie (a Letter to my Godson)

Freddie is my godson. I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of taking him out by myself a few days ago and now he has learnt to communicate, I started to think, what three ‘words of advice’ (ideas) I would pass on to a child if I had to do so now? Using the words of people far more eloquent than I, this is what I would leave behind.

Dear Freddie,

You are only two and a half years old and I am a generation ahead of you, yet I know little of the world and I hope to learn more each day. From my twenty-six years of life, this is what I would like to share with you today. I hope you understand these things quicker than I.

If you can dream it, you can do it. And if your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough. Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.

Walt Disney, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Theodore Roosevelt, and Christian D. Larson

Be true to yourself and be less concerned with what others think about you. Don’t accept their definition of you, but grow into a self-definition of your own. Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself, because no matter what they say, you always have a choice. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind. Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.

Kishore Bansal, Richard Bach Ray N. Kuil, Bernard M. Baruch, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Kerouac

There are so many people in the world, and I want to know them all but I don’t even know my next-door neighbor’s name. You must always look with both of your eyes and listen with both of your ears. This is a very big world and there are many many things you could miss if you are not careful. There are remarkable things all the time, right in front of us, but our eyes have like the clouds over the sun and our lives are paler and poorer if we do not see them for what they are. If nobody speaks of remarkable things, how can they be called remarkable? Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it. Be believing, be happy, don’t get discouraged. Things will work out.

Jon McGregor, Roald Dahl, and Gordon B. Hinckley

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.

Jamie

Freddie and I (Dear Freddie, a letter to my godson)-1

By | 2014-03-10T19:05:31+00:00 November 18th, 2013|Thoughts and Inspiration|6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Alyson 21/12/2013 at 06:31 - Reply

    Beautiful and spot on. My kids don’t have godparents, or even grandparents now my mum has disowned us for being too weird. Want a job?

    • Jamie 02/01/2014 at 08:56 - Reply

      As a pillar of society, yes, sounds great.
      P.S. Do your children mind living in the forest and not washing for days / weeks at a time?

  2. pamela kaveh 21/11/2013 at 02:39 - Reply

    I absolutely adore Jamie with that beautiful writing to his Godson and I really want to learn about this great young man. I am a humanitarian and have a passion to Nature. God gave me nothing but one precious thing and that is my heart, beats for people and feels their pain no matter where they are.
    Jamie if you are reading this, just drop me a line and that will be a great honor for me.
    thank you and God bless you and protect you wherever you are.
    pamela kaveh from California

  3. Melanie Murrish 18/11/2013 at 23:54 - Reply

    My youngest is not yet christened-you’re in the running! 😉

    • Jamie 19/11/2013 at 01:03 - Reply

      I’ve never been Christened, had trouble with the police twice in the last few months, and fed Freddie a lemon (to his mum’s horror). Yes I’d love to be considered..

      • Melanie Murrish 19/11/2013 at 01:22 - Reply

        Ideal candidate!

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