Stephen Fry sits right down and writes his gay 16-year-old self a letter

Out actor/writer Stephen Fry has finally responded to a letter written by an obnoxious sixteen year-old ... named Stephen Fry. Back in 1973 the young Mr. Fry wrote a hilariously arrogant letter to his "future self" in which he basically intoned "adults stink" and generally acted like a typical sixteen-year-old:

You declared in that letter (reproduced in your 1997 autobiography Moab Is My Washpot) that "everything I feel now as an adolescent is true". You went on to affirm that if ever you dared in later life to repudiate, deny or mock your 16-year-old self it would be a lie, a traducing, treasonable lie, a crime against adolescence. "This is who I am," you wrote. "Each day that passes I grow away from my true self. Every inch I take towards adulthood is a betrayal."

The adult Stephen's response is filled with the dry wit we've come to expect. He gently mocks the obnoxious young Stephen, but he also writes about how difficult it will be for him in the future as a gay man until he finally makes peace with himself.

But there's something to be said for the unbridled passion of youth, and Stephen ends his letter with this wistful lament:

You poor dear, dear thing. Look at you weltering in your misery. The extraordinary truth is that you want to stay there. Unlike so many of the young, you do not yearn for adulthood, pubs and car keys. You want to stay where you are, in the Republic of Pubescence, where feeling has primacy and pain is beautiful. And you know what ... I think you are right.

If I had to write my sixteen year-old self a letter, I'd probably advise him against a few things, such as writing that fan letter to Kip Winger, and running away and crying when that guy from the football team tried to feel him up in the school gym weight room. You were a stupid kid, Snicks.

What advice would you give your sixteen year-old self?