My young being!!… Today when my hands tremble, my vision is blurred… And while climbing the stairs, my breath starts to leave me… So I think of you a lot…. That’s you… A young man of twenty, with a forest of dreams in his eyes, a lamp of love lit in his heart… And a boy who considers himself to be alive forever… Today, sitting on the threshold of old age, I am writing you a letter, perhaps because time has taught me all that life has never been able to say even softly in your ear…
Son…!! The love for which the Torah stays awake all night, one day it will come alive with someone else’s name… And you…? After looking at his old pictures, you will only think that a person is bound not by promises, but by needs…. The friends you give your life to, one day they will not be able to find time to even listen to your sorrows, this world believes more in busyness than in condolences… People don’t forget the dead, they only get confused with the living…. And yes…!! Today you smile when you see your face in the mirror, right?… One day this mirror will silence you, because time snatches the light inside a person before his face….
Son…!! I know, right now my words must be seeming bitter to you, because youth always considers itself an exception, it feels, all the accidents in the world happen for others, not for itself… But listen…!! Life does not respect anyone’s dreams, a day will come, when you will keep tiring yourself to keep people happy, and in return you will only find loneliness… You will keep bending to save relationships, and people will consider it your weakness…. And the most dangerous day will be when you will feel for the first time that no one understands you anymore… Son…!! Every person who is laughing with you today, is not necessarily standing in your sorrow tomorrow, life shows the real faces of people in exams more than in gatherings…. I have seen people who earn wealth throughout their lives, but in old age their rooms were filled with medicines, not with happiness… I have also seen those who died in love… And after a few years I saw them smiling at a new face… Therefore, remember one thing, do not consider anything in life as yours forever, because time takes away the most beloved thing from a person first.
And son…!! One thing you may never understand is that the greatest harm to a person is not caused by his enemies, but by his own expectations. You will be loyal to everyone you call yours, but one truth of life is that not everyone is yours until the end. One day, sitting in your own house, you will feel that people may be used to your presence, but not to your value… The people for whom you sacrifice their sleep, will one day not even consider it necessary to respond to your message… And who knows what the strangest moment will be…? When you are sitting in a crowd, there will be voices all around, people will be laughing, but complete silence will have descended inside you. This is the age where a person understands that loneliness is not about being alone, but about becoming silent among those people, whom you once considered your world… Son…!! If I had time back, I would give you only one piece of advice, don’t waste your whole life trying to please people, because in the end, a person realizes too late that he has forgotten to live for himself.
And listen, son…!! When you are young, you will feel that life is very long, you will tell yourself after every mistake, there is still a lot of time left, but old age tells a person a terrible truth, life is not long, it is just that a person wastes it a lot…. You will run after people who were never yours… And you will ignore those who silently wanted you, you will be so busy earning money that one day your own people will start feeling alien to you… And then a time will come, when you will have wealth, but the people for whom you had saved it all will not be there… Son…!! I have learned one thing by standing on graves, the biggest regrets of the dead are not unfulfilled dreams, but unfulfilled loves and neglected relationships, people do not say this in their last breath, I wish I had earned more money, they only think, I wish…!! I had spent more time with the people I called love… And perhaps this is the cruelest joke of life, a person understands the value of relationships when time has slipped from his hands…
And now, son…!! As this letter nears its end, I want to tell you one last thing… A day will come, when your hair will be white, your voice will be tired, and people will ignore your silences more than your sentences, you will sit on a chair and remember the past like a person trying to save a few of his pictures from a burning house… Then you will realize, life was actually a very short story, which we always considered very long… Son…!! People will not remember you with success, the world does not care much about your position, your salary and your bank balance, in the end a person lives only by his attitudes, if possible, do not break anyone’s heart, because time does not only make faces old, some sighs even tire a person’s soul… And yes, give time to your mother, try to understand the silent love of the father, because when both of them are gone