HAPPY NEW YEAR 2003
Once again, it's time to think about the past, look forward and make our resolutions for the coming year. I've been thinking lately about the passing of time and the changes that inevitably occur. I've been thinking about grandparents and children, about memories, about the future. I remember thinking about the 21st century in the 1940s. It seemed an impossibly long time ahead and my present age seemed very old. Now, looking back, the 1940s don't seem so long ago and I think of myself as aging but not old. I remember how smart I thought I was in the 1940s and I think about how much I've learned since. I remember how little regard I had for advice from older people and I think about how much I could have learned had I listened.
My grandparents were all born in the 19th century and in the 1940s that seemed a very long time ago. Now, the time of my grandparents doesn't feel all that long ago. I read recently that a large percentage of the American people weren't alive in 1948. I can remember arguing about political topics in 1948 and thinking I was well-informed and ready to debate any subject. Now, I think about how little I know now, after years of learning, so what was I thinking in 1948? I suppose it's the arrogance of youth or maybe the more we learn the more we understand how much we have yet to learn.
I look at my partner's two-year-old and think about how much he has learned and how much more he will learn. I think of all the things he will see in his life, things we can't imagine. I think of all the things we take for granted now that weren't imagined when my grandparents were his age: airplanes, radio, television, penicillin, automobiles, man on the moon, talking pictures. I think about things which they imagined but were not yet a reality to them: electric lights, indoor plumbing, cures for various diseases, washing machines.
I also think about the future. The only thing I know is that things will continue to change. In some ways, I'm excited about that. I look around me, see the positive changes in process for many people and institutions, and I feel optimistic. But I also see negative changes, for example, in the level of kindness and civility in many people. If I dwell on the negative changes, I feel pessimistic and begin to worry about the future, become preoccupied, fretful.
I don't suppose two-year-olds think about the future in the way we do. I don't imagine they worry or fret about things that are yet to come. I believe they think in the present. They may feel good or bad, they may laugh or cry, but I don't sense fear of the future. I think they may in some sense resist changes in their lives but it's very immediate circumstances, not days ahead.
My resolution for myself and my hope for all of you are based on observing a two-year-old. It's that we learn to live in the present. I don't mean that we become heedless of risk or become improvident in living our lives. I don't mean that we should stop planning for the future. I mean that we should enjoy the present, do our best to improve the present, look forward to change without fearing it, accept the future with good cheer and the sense of anticipation a two-year old brings to the next game he wants to play, the next book he wants read to him, the new words he's learning at a rapid clip.
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM YOUR INTERNET GRANDFATHER.
12-30-02
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