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I was recently asked if I could fill in for a judge at an international school project. I felt honored and couldn’t wait to see what the kids would come up with.
Tag: <span>Generations</span>
My grandmother probably noticed how different we were for the first time during our prayers in our old mountain chapel. She used the Lutheran form for the Lord’s prayer, I said it the Catholic way I had learned in the German bonding school, and each time she heard it, she shook her head in annoyance.
Oh, my dear internet! Thank you for making my life easier! Telephone books, street maps, encyclopedias, DVDs, and postcards have disappeared. Gone are the days when a TV station asked me to sit in front of the television at 8 p.m. sharp, now I am getting fed the news by headlines faster than I can digest them. Gone are the times when program makers teased me about having to wait a week for my favorite series to continue. Today I decide what, when and where I watch. With the help of my phone, or tablet I could even binge-watch sitting on our storage shed – just in case I ever feel like it.
We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.
But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we meant to be,
to keep on going where we meant to go.
Ordinary people, trying to live their lives the best way they can. We don’t try to force our will upon others. We do not confuse having a strong opinion with being right. We do not look past our mistakes, but try to live with them. We do not accost women, men, or people “different” from us.
Too often I see the elderly talking, instead of listening. They -just like me- think they know it all, and they are so eager to spread their wisdom. That’s a curse we carry on our shoulders, and it gets more cumbersome with each passing year. The urge to enlighten the youth gets stronger and stronger.
They had been hidden in a box at the bottom of her wardrobe for many years.
“I bought them when I was about your age,” she said when she gently handed me the shoes.
Sometimes I wonder if there is an exact time point when we, the older ones, feel disconnected from the younger generations. Does it happen overnight or is it a slow process? When do we lose touch with each other?
Sooner or later there comes a day when we realize that we are mortal. One day we will be gone. “Game over” and I think it frightens us at first.
Will people remember me? What legacy do I leave behind?
I think about the different generations in my life and I understand them all. The young ones, in their 20’s and 30’s are exactly like I have been when I was their age. I remember it well, the 70’s and 80’s. I got advice left and right. People tried to tell me what to do and what not to do. I listened to all of it, nodded like I would agree with some that had been said, went on and did it my way.