Sneaking Over A Bridge As A Teenager

Every pre-cell phone era northern Jersey kid (and southern CT kid, and Eastern PA kid, and…) has this story:

The one about the time, in high school, when they told their parents they were going one place, but in actuality, they were sneaking into the city.

Scrap that. Every kid has this story:

The one about the time, growing up, when they broke/bent/blew off the rule book and went on an adventure.

And, critically, part of that adventure is whatever went wrong.

Eric Markowitz didn’t know (I didn’t even know) I’d be asking him this question when we sat down for our Intentional Investor interview, but it unfolded with me saying,

“As a Jersey kid, it is part of your birthright, to sneak out of Jersey and sneak into Manhattan, usually when you’re not old enough to do so yet—do you have any good stories or fun nights in the big city?”

Of course he did.

He and his friends prepped their alibis. There was a band playing they wanted to see. They took the train or the bus in, and a bunch of kids saw a killer (indie rock darlings) Built to Spill set.

Funny enough, just before our recording, he saw the band again, 20ish years offset. Weird how that works, right?

But that night, all those years ago, that group of friends experienced the city as only teenagers can. They experienced the magic of taking a risk, of taking a ton of risks plural, and as they walked out ready to catch the bus home, undetected by parents, full of bragging rights for school, they found out… there were no more trains, busses, or accessible/available options to get them back to Jersey at that hour.

F***.

This is the critical part of the story. When the adventure takes the wrong turn. When you realize might not get away with it.

It’s critical because you have a choice.

A very adult choice.

How will you handle it? How will you get home? Are you about to take more risk, take your lumps, what, why, and how are you stepping forward?

These aren’t stories we usually share. We usually aren’t trying to encourage kids to take risks like this. But, I think it’s important we tell them. The stories. Maybe not the kids (or, be careful which ones you tell your own kids at least. Leave the bad ones to the uncles and aunts, then return the favor accordingly).

Eric and his friends attempted to cross the George Washington Bridge on foot.

What they didn’t know, was that there was a gate in the middle blocking their passage. The police lights and sirens found them there before they could decide on what risk to take yet.

It was the era, but the cops shepherded them to the other side of the bridge and told them to get home safely.

It’s a happy ending, in that way.

But it’s also a happy lesson.

Learn to take risks. Learn to be wrong. Learn to be OK. Experience being right. Know what role luck is playing.

In a few years, Eric would become an investigative journalist, and later, a hedge fund research analyst. I’m not attributing all of that to sneaking into the city, but I am attributing some of it to the gall it takes. Life is scary. No, life is REALLY scary.

You have to try to cross the bridges, even when the police need to escort you off from time to time.

They’re rites of passage for a reason.

And, maybe, Built to Spill said it best (my emphasis)

Tell the stories.