I was sitting in a doctor’s office today and sat beside me was a really old man talking to whom I assumed was his daughter. It wasn’t very difficult to eavesdrop on them- the old man was wearing hearing aids, and the two were virtually shouting at one another in what likely sounded like a normal tone to the old guy. They were talking about politics and church. Nothing controversial. Easy chat about the state of our country during this election season and how members of his aging congregation feel about the state of our union.
The old man looks at the lady and in a powerful sounding tone and says, “We must focus on the children of this country. Find ways to educate them on the law of the land. Get them in our churches to make sure we preserve the integrity of the United States.” My first thought was that he was right. Sounds like a platform for growth for America. Then, I thought (and I mean this respectfully), this old guy has it all wrong. The children are certainly an important part of future history, but shouldn’t everyone be the future? Young and old? Maybe even the middle aged? The very definition of “history” is the study of past events. Well, who better to teach that than the folks who have walked in the front lines over the years and the people who’ve created the footprints in the sand for us to follow? I felt like walking over to them and saying, “Without you, the children have no source of knowledge. No point of reference to history beyond that’s written in a text book. No real life stories from the front lines of our great World Wars, or what it felt like to be an American the day Buzz Aldrin and Neal Armstrong walked on the moon for the first time, or what life was like before technology consumed every aspect of our days and what it meant to seal a deal with a handshake. Old man, you are the future.”
I’ve written about my Grandmother in a few previous blogs, and I’ll give you another one of her phrases as she had a large part in shaping my future. “When you point a finger, remember three of your own are pointing back at you.”