Wear sunscreen.
In the summer of 1997, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich imagined being asked to give a commencement speech. Her first piece of advice — the only one, she says, backed by science — is sunscreen. Everything after that is her own rambling, hard-won experience.
She tells the young to enjoy who they are right now instead of spending their energy worrying about the future or comparing themselves with others; to be kind to their bodies; to stay close to old friends and family; and not to take anyone’s advice too seriously — her own included.
The column was later passed around as a Kurt Vonnegut commencement address at MIT, and Baz Luhrmann turned it into a song — it traveled much farther than its author ever expected.