To the Grandchildren,

There are many days when I have so much hope for the future. We are living in a time of fast-paced technology that cannot seem to catch up with itself.  Computers, phones, televisions and vehicles all with technology to make our lives simpler, easier, less stressful and more productive. Cameras on the backs of our cars to keep us from running over someone or hitting an electrical pole (I was going to say “telephone” pole but that may alienate a portion of my audience). We even have two, not one but two cameras on our phones, one on either side so we can take “selfies” (Oh! How I despise that word!). We even have tablets with touch screen that are more powerful than NASA’s computers during the lunar landing era. I have a “drive’ that I can put in the watch pocket of my jeans that has 5 million times the storage capacity of my first desktop pc. And yet…we rank well below the countries of the world that lead in math, the sciences, medicine and manufacturing.

As a whole, the United States spends billions on recreation; sporting events, televisions & computers and game consoles. We are at a point that well over 60% of our people are considered obese. We die off from obesity related diseases at a faster clip than any other country in the world. Heart disease, stroke and diabetes all rack up the numbers of mortality on Americans like hippies flocking to Colorado.

I watch our grandchildren play, explore, wonder at the tactile qualities of mud, pea gravel and blades of grass. Before technology sinks its fangs into our children, they are full of wonder at the sight and feel of flower petals, butterflies, frogs and turtles. They inadvertently learn about livestock and farming and what it takes to care for and grow chickens and tomatoes. They learn to run and develop hand/eye coordination; usually by trial and error, cuts, scrapes and bruises and the occasional broken bone or chipped tooth. These are the moments we look back on and see what life was like as we developed. Schoolyard recess and pick-up football games, tea parties with only the most stylish stuffed animal friends; catching lightning bugs and swatting mosquitoes on humid summer nights. Impatiently waiting for the unsuspecting bluegill to take the worm as we doze off because our grandfather got us up too early or sticking our tongues on the basketball pole as we see our breath billow in front of us on a frosted-over Saturday morning shoveling newly-fallen snow.

I only wish for you to experience your world outside and use your imagination when you are inside. Slay the dragon from the lofty mountain peak or sleep under the blankets of a fort built in your basement. These are the times you will remember and reminisce upon as you watch technology overtake your lives. As you grow up and farther away from the innocence you lived and loved as a child, the longing to go back to those days increases with every passing year. Experience life as it comes to you, make wise decisions as if you are 100 years old and develop your common sense. The fleeting breeze comes by you once, be the feather in the wind.

All My Love,

Papaw