Best advice: never eat the yellow snow

Full disclosure: I have never lived in snow, have only played in it a few times, and don’t actually care for the cold that much. However, the best advice I have been given is to never eat the yellow snow because that’s what my grandfather advised me. It seemed like a good idea at the time, taken literally.

A tainted interpretation?

I now realize that there are things in this life that appear better and seem to promise something new and different that cannot actually deliver. Instead of veering off the wise path and being tempted by something that is different, simply because it is different, think first.

Trying to stand out does not necessarily doing things differently. Being myself will let me stand out just as much because there is only one me. Sometimes the best ideas and most creative innovations come out of what you have to work with already.

My grandfather could have been just stating the obvious and that I should avoid yellow snow, but I would like to think it meant more than that. For that reason I feel like I am living up to what he said. I try not to try for the sake of trying, but instead I dig a little deeper and understand what’s tempting me. I want to build the best snowman from the white snow. I want to be smart about the opportunities in front of me.

It’s all yellow

In these early years of my life, there is so much yellow snow that even the regular snow now seems off-white. I really have no idea what to trust and I’m often tempted. Starting a life for myself creates countless possibilities, but along with those possibilities come small to huge risks. I think the advice was not warning me off about taking chances, but more focused on not trying to jump at opportunities that are disguised as something they are not.

I really must trust myself and believe I am making the right decisions.

When I was first told the advice, I was twelve. I was just on the brink of becoming a teenager and that’s the time you think the world is opening up to you. Now, ten years later, the world is much more vast and there is much more snow. The yellow stuff is out there, but I will follow my judgment and my grandfather’s advice. It has worked so far.

Editor’s note: we’ll close with classic Frank Zappa.