Essay: Wear Sunscreen

Overview
Mary Schmich's 1997 Chicago Tribune column, popularly known as "Wear Sunscreen," reads like a single, extended piece of practical counsel delivered with warmth and wit. Framed as a hypothetical commencement address, it strings together short, pithy admonitions and reassurances aimed at a younger audience but written to resonate across ages. The recurring refrain "Wear sunscreen" anchors the piece, turning a simple health tip into a larger metaphor for self-care and foresight.
The column eschews a formal argument or narrative arc; instead it offers a mosaic of observations about life's small and large choices. Schmich mixes the specific and the universal, tips about sun protection and footwear sit alongside reflections on regret, love, time, and mortality, creating a compact manual for negotiating the unpredictable currents of adulthood.

Tone and Voice
The voice is conversational, candid, and lightly humorous, combining the tone of a trusted friend with the clarity of a seasoned columnist. Schmich balances bluntness ("Wear sunscreen") with tenderness and wry irony, allowing the sharper lines to land without feeling preachy. That mix of practical detail and emotional intelligence gives the column both immediacy and emotional depth.
Beneath the breezy surface there is an undercurrent of melancholy and realism: the advice acknowledges limits, one cannot predict everything or avoid every mistake, but it insists on the value of small, steady choices that preserve dignity and health. The attitude is ultimately compassionate rather than judgmental, aiming to steady rather than to sanctify.

Key Advice and Themes
Concrete, memorable recommendations appear alongside broader life lessons. Schmich counsels care for physical health with specifics like sunscreen and sensible shoes, urges people to appreciate their bodies and relationships, and warns against the short-term gratification that can lead to long-term regret. She stresses the value of kindness to parents and strangers, the importance of saving and planning without letting fear dominate, and the necessity of forgiving oneself for inevitable errors.
Central themes include the passage of time, the complexity of identity, and the interplay between agency and chance. Schmich repeatedly returns to the idea that many anxieties of youth lose their urgency with perspective, while other concerns, health, character, endurance, prove enduring. The column champions modest, sustained efforts over grand gestures, suggesting that resilience and small acts of responsibility shape a satisfying life more than dramatic decisions.

Reception and Legacy
The column quickly escaped its original print context, becoming a global viral phenomenon circulated in emails and quoted widely in speeches and popular culture. It was frequently misattributed as a commencement address and wrongly credited to figures such as Kurt Vonnegut, which only amplified its reach. Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann transformed the text into a spoken-word recording titled "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)," further cementing its place in late-20th-century popular consciousness.
Beyond the viral moment, the piece has endured as a cultural touchstone for advice literature: it is cited at graduations, shared in times of transition, and anthologized in retrospectives of memorable columns. Its blend of practical tips and human insight has influenced how short-form advice is written and circulated in the internet age.

Enduring Appeal
The column's lasting power lies in its accessibility and emotional honesty. Its prescriptions are specific enough to feel actionable but framed within a compassionate acceptance of life's messiness. Readers find comfort in the idea that ordinary prudence, protecting skin, cherishing friendships, practicing decency, can accumulate into a life worth living.
Ultimately, the piece performs a simple cultural service: it translates diffuse anxieties about growing up into a series of manageable choices delivered with wit and warmth. That combination of clarity, empathy, and memorable phrasing is what keeps "Wear Sunscreen" circulating decades after its first appearance.