Age Matters Less When You’re Old Enough to Know Better

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Age Matters LessAge matters less now that you’re older. I lied. Age gaps always matter, right? Wrong. In Back to the Future, Marty McFly’s age meant nothing when time travel put him in the same class as his parents. So, why does age matter less as we age? Because shared time, not numbers, defines relationships, revealing a truth that unfolds over the years.

But speaking of those formative teenage years, remember when you were a senior in high school? You might have had a few junior friends. You barely acknowledged the sophomores. And, as for the freshmen… did your high school even have a freshman class? Who knew? Back then, who cared?

Today, it doesn’t matter what class they were in; if they were in high school at the same time you were, they were all your age. At this point, numbers simply have no basis in reality. Age matters less as shared time rewrites the math. Age gaps that felt vast in your youth offer but Continue Reading “Age Matters Less When You’re Old Enough to Know Better”

How To Be Successful: The Explosive Truth

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(continued from “Why The Harvard MBA Should Be FIREd”)

Remember those paint-by-numbers kits we got as kids for too many birthdays? They had the allure of any typical get-rich-quick scheme. Each package featured the finished painting on its cover. It looked like a masterpiece. You just knew the Louvre had a space just for it, probably right next to the Mona Lisa. And – here’s the kicker – in just a few short hours you will have created an exact copy, suitable for hanging on your mother’s refrigerator!

Oh, joy, rapture! I got artistic talent!

And it was so easy, wasn’t it? Each kit came with clearly numbered paints, each number corresponding to a numbered shape on the heavy cardboard canvas supplied. It was as simple as 1, 2, 3… Picasso!

Picasso?!

You dreamed Monet and you got Picasso. And that was being generous. As you painted, you saw nothing but a series of random splotches of color. You might see an image, but Continue Reading “How To Be Successful: The Explosive Truth”

The Speed of Light

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the October 11, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

CarosaCommentaryNewLogo_259One hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second. It takes light about one and one-third seconds to go from the Earth to the Moon. We know this because scientists have shot lasers at the reflectors the Apollo astronauts left on the lunar surface. The Moon orbits at a distance of 240,000 miles from the Earth.

One hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second. The light emitted from our Sun has aged a little over eight minutes by the time it hits the Earth. The Earth circles the Sun from a span of 93 million miles away.

One hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second. That’s equal to nearly six trillion miles in one year. We refer to this distance as one light-year. The nearest star (Proxima Centauri) looms a mere 4.3 light-years from our Solar System. That translates to just Continue Reading “The Speed of Light”

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