Young people graduating and heading for the world want to make a difference. Congratulations! They already have (and so have you).
We tend to think of history in terms of its great moments: kings, queens, battles, great inventions, and discoveries. But important as these are, much of our lives and our collective history are dictated by events that often seem completely insignificant at the time. We miss a flight and meet the person we’ll marry; an introduction to a stranger at a party results in a new career. Some events impact us all. Had the comet that wiped out that dinosaurs 66 million years ago been five minutes earlier or later in its path, it would have missed the earth and it would been just another day on planet earth, and the dinosaurs would have continued their long evolution, rending the rise of humans unlikely.
A great beach read this year would be of Fluke: Chance Chaos and Why Everything We Do Matters. The author, Brian Fluke, “explores how our world really works, driven by strange interactions and apparently random events. How did one couple’s vacation cause 100,000 people to die? Does our decision to hit the snooze button in the morning radically alter the trajectory of our lives? Klaas provides a brilliantly fresh look at why things happen—all while providing mind-bending lessons on how we can live smarter, be happier, and lead more fulfilling lives.”
Mr. Klass will give you a startling but hopeful perspective on how life really works. This short video explains his belief that we ‘control nothing, but influence everything’
Note: See Michael Lewis” (Money) Princeton commencement address below “Will You Be Lucky or Smart” below for more on how small things create big outcomes.”
