“What is One Thing I Should Do Before I Die”

This question comes to Zamboni from “teen in Berkeley, Ca” and I do my best now to answer.

Dear teen friend, it is fortunate for you to have asked the one they call Zamboni this question. As you can imagine this question has puzzled great sages and thinkers for many long years and even centuries. An old Jewish saying goes that a man should do three things in his life:

-plant a tree

-write a book

-have a son

This has nice ring to it but what if you are a woman, and what about having a daughter? And who writes or even reads books? So we must go further than this.

Socrates would say “know thyself”, search out the truth, ask questions and do not be fooled into thinking that the shadows of the things are the things themselves.

The Epicureans and Hedonists might say “eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow you die”

Buddha’s two cents would be, “all pleasures are fleeting, seek emptiness, peace, not pleasures and posessions.”

George Kaufman reminded us, “you can’t take it with you”.

Fred McMurray in Double Indemnity film noir says, “you bet I’ll get outta here baby, i’ll get outta here but quik.”

But as with many things, Zamboni knowing true answer.

Fall In Love.

A badger can make a damn. A spider can build a web. A whale can sing. A chimpanzee can hammer a nail. A computer knows more things than you and almost more than I.

Only a human can fall in love.

So fall in love with something: a sailboat, a movie, a girl, a boy,  a restaurant, college, something. Yes you will feel pain that the badger, the whale, and the spider do not. You will become tougher. To heal the hurt try poetry, music, and if that fails, ice cream. Just fall in love, and you’ll be okay.

Zamboni has been in love, trust me. Like we say in Estonia, “Love is like a hive of bees crashing your face- lots of sting, lots of honey”. It sounds not quite so violent in my language but there you are.

Thank you for asking, my young friend, and be well!!

 

 

 

(PS: No sex till you’re 18!, then always safe, don’t drink anything that label says “flammable” and tell your parents what u doing.)