Sunscreen

Wear Sunscreen by Mary Schmich.  Heard this set to music on the radio tonight, a spoken voice recording with background music called "Everybody's free to wear sunscreen."  It was recorded in 1998 and hit the American charts in 1999.  This is a few snippets:

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.


Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

The rumour is that Kurt Vonnegut gave this as a commencement speech at MIT, this rumour is false