Bridging the Past with the Future
I learned that the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person. ~ Andy Rooney
This summer I enjoyed time with my extended family in Minnesota. Relatives traveled from all parts of the U.S. for a weekend of graduations, catching up, playing and generally celebrating being family. One of the reasons I love reunions is because they are special opportunities to create bonds from one generation to the next. They remind me how much I owe to the “senior family” in my life and what I now hope to offer my grandchildren.
One of the summer highlights of my childhood was leaving the city where my family lived and driving to my grandma’s farm in the country to spend the weekends. It was there that I learned about feather beds, making pie crust from scratch, how to pick green beans and what an “out house” was. As I got older I learned about what it meant to be a German immigrant, birthing babies at home and surviving the Minnesota winters before central heat.
I listened to my grandmother describe life before electricity, telephones, televisions, planes, trains and automobiles. Computers were not even in her vocabulary. She was the door to a world that I would never know and could only imagine. I was fascinated by her life and would talk with her for hours. She taught me about commitment, determination, hard work, faith and values.
Today, the mobility of life has resulted in families living further apart. Many young people have not had the opportunity to spend time with their grandparents or older relatives, and haven’t developed a sense of belonging, accountability and connection from one generation to the next.
In a culture that heavily values maintaining youth at all cost, there naturally follows a decline of respect and reverence for the older and wiser of our society. Yet at a time when our youth live with unprecedented competition and pressure, the love, guidance and mentoring of older role models has never been more important.
The need to belong runs deep in the human psyche. If our children do not find belonging within the family, they will find it somewhere else. Even if that “somewhere else” is a drug house, a street gang or a cult.
As parents, our children determine what is valuable from watching us. We have an opportunity to be the link between past and future generations by providing space and time for relationships to grow. Take advantage of family reunions to hear life stories; draw a family tree and help your children make connections with those they don’t know – in person or through a letter. **If your own family doesn’t offer affirming relationships, then be intentional about creating family connections of your choosing.
Bridging the past and the future begins by reaching across the generations. Giving our children wings is so much easier if we have first given them roots.