A Father Sees a Son Nearing Manhood

(Carl Sandburg)
Line
Paraphrase VIRTUES ADVOCATED FOR ADVICE NO.
No.
1 A father is anxious of his teenage son.
2 What pieces of advice shall the former tell the latter?
3 “Life is not easy; be as strong as a steel or rock.”
1. AUDACITY AMIDST
4 This advice might be helpful in solving his problems, obstacles, or challenges besetting him;
ADVERSITIES
5 And might even help him combat the danger of boredom;
6 And might able him to contain sudden betrayals
7 (Same idea as Line No. 5)
8 “Life demands gentleness or patience.”
9 This advice might help him, too.
10 Patience has tamed difficult individuals who behave like brutes. 2. PATIENCE AMIDST SEVERITY
11 Even if one is as frail as a flower on the road
12 In time, he can reach his goal like a frail flower patiently splits a rock.
13 In realizing one’s desires or dreams, being audacious matters.
14 Being patient matters as well. (Refer to No. 1 and 2)
15 Without those virtues, one cannot succeed.
16 Tell him too much power or riches deprive others to live.
17 And the powerful or the rich are already dead years before they will be buried.
3. CONTENTMENT OVER
18 The quest for material things for easy comfort
MATERIALISM
19 Has distorted the moral values of the good enough individuals
20 And, sometimes, indulged themselves into illegal pursuits.
21 Tell him to manage his time wisely. 4. TIME MANAGEMENT’S VALUE
22 Tell him it is okay to commit mistakes even most of the time
23 And don’t even feel embarrassed doing so,
5. LEARNING FROM MISTAKES
24 Yet he must learn the lesson in every mistake he made
(PRACTICE FOR THE PURSUIT
25 With the hope that such cheap mistakes will never recur
OF PRECISION)
26 Hence, he can have a deeper understanding
27 Of those who commit the same mistakes he did before.
28 Tell him to find solitude to have self-introspection (Refer to No. 7)
 29 Most importantly, he must be true to himself
30 He must stop telling white lies and pretending to be someone he is not 6. HONESTY/INTEGRITY
31 In which he might be doing to some people.
32 Tell him he can be productive in his solitude 7. VALUE OF
33 And he can make better decisions alone. SELF-INTROSPECTION
34 Tell him to be unique among other people
8. UNIQUENESS
35 As long as he is comfortable being unique.
36 Let him use his free time or boring moments evaluating his goals in life.
(Refer to No. 7)
37 Let him introspect on his strengths or innate talents or abilities.
38 Doing all those pieces of advice above enables him to understand Shakespeare,
9. COMMITMENT ON PERSONAL
39 The Wright brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov,
GROWTH AND RESPONSIBILITY
40 Michael Faraday and those proactive people
TO THE WORLD
41 Who made developments and breakthroughs amidst people who are pessimistic to change.

The Nine Pieces of Advice:

1. Be strong.
2. Be patient.
3. Be content of what you have.
4. Manage your time wisely.
5. It is okay to commit mistakes but learn from them.
6. Be true to yourself.
7. Find time for self-introspection.
8. Be unique.
9. Change yourself for the better to influence others.