I'd like to pay tribute to an amzing human, who wore so many different hats, John Perry Barlow.
Many know him as a songwriter and maybe the better half of the Weir/Barlow tandem. He also wrote songs for the other musicins as well, most notably String Cheese Incident. However, John Perry Barlow, did many things. Many outside of the Grateful Dead communty know him as the founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and as an internet activist.
Here's a great article on Cassidy written by Barlow: http://www.litkicks.com/BarlowOnNeal
Many years ago, on the eve of his 30th birthday, John Perry Barlow sat down and created a list of guiding principles to being an adult. A few weeks ago he shared them all. I thought it was a great list so I assembled all here from his twitter feed.
- Be patient. No matter what.
- Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him.
- Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
- Expand your sense of the possible.
- Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.<
- Don’t ask more of others than you can deliver yourself.
- Tolerate ambiguity.
- Laugh at yourself frequently.
- Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.
- Try not to forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
- Give up blood sports.
- Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.
- Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)
- Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
- Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
- Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
- Praise at least as often as you disparage.
- Admit your errors freely and quickly.
- Become less suspicious of joy.
- Understand humility.
- Remember that love forgives everything.
- Foster dignity.
- Live memorably.
- Love yourself.
- Endure.
- KBOO