my best advice

Dear Bobby and Lizzy,
My two best word of advice are:
1. find something you love to do as your career. Many Americans dread Monday morning. You will spend a vast portion of your life at work, so choose a career which you will enjoy, even if it pays less than other fields. I used to tell my students to "follow their dreams", but that is probably not sound advice if your dreams are to play professional sports, or to become a professional musician, because the odds of achieving your dreams are very low. After all, you need not forego your dreams by having a good back-up plan;
2. when it is time to choose a life partner, choose someone who is fundamentally kind. The way to tell about their kindness is to go to a restaurant with them and watch how they treat the busboy---do they acknowledge and thank him, or do they ignore him and only acknowledge the waiter?
If you only remember two things I told you, make it those two and your life will be much happier. Of less importance, but still worth remembering:
3. surround yourself only with friends who genuinely respect and support you. There are many insecure people who will seek your company and purport to be your friends, but instead of bolstering you, they bring you down. You can pity them and help them if you like, but limit your time with them and recognize that they are not trustworthy;
4. give more than you take, and your value to this world has been established. Help those in need, find opportunities to perform acts of kindness, bring positive energy to every meeting you attend, treat the environment with respect---these are such simple and self-evident values, but it is easy to lose sight of their importance. In the long run, these will form and inform your legacy.
Love,
Dad