| Keeping
the beat as time marches on |
Another
school year has arrived as all you fellow parents are well
aware. I find myself reflecting on the lives of my children
and my relationship to them as I see them, another year
older, advance onward in their lives to a future that now
is really uncertain.
I say uncertain not out of a sense of pessimism or of any
doubts I have about their abilities, but out of what our
world is heading toward and coming to. People my age and
older often bemoan the loss of innocence in the world these
days and how much better things used to be. In reality,
that may or may not be true. I will say, though, that I
remember my world growing up as a little more safer, a little
more stable. Even while events swirled around our parent’s
heads, terrible things like assassinations, war and divisive
racial conflict, there was at that time a sense that family
was family and that community was community; that, no matter
what happened in Vietnam or Dallas, your street was secure
and your neighbors were dependable. I wonder if, today,
that same sense of family, community and stability holds
true. Often, I don’t think it does.
Everything now is so fast-paced and rapid fire. Relations
are often based solely on the “what can you do for
me” criteria. Children are being urged to grow up
faster and faster. In effect, it is a very different world
that what I and my peers knew 30 years ago. Can we honestly
believe that it is a better one?
Still, you have to deal with the cards given you. That doesn’t
mean accepting everything that is excepted as the norm;
it does mean, though, that you have to accept fully that
things are indeed different and be even more cognizant of
the values and morals you pass on to your children.
It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day rigors
of making a living. A Washington, DC tax watchdog group
recently revealed that the time American workers have to
toil to feed the government beast has now been extended
two weeks. The result is we are all doing more and more
and bringing home less and less to show for it. The pressures
are there and don’t look to let up anytime soon.
But, our children don’t care about taxes or bottom
lines. What they want---what they absolutely need--is a
warm sense of stability, togetherness and place of belonging.
Things that, while harder to come by these days, are sorely
needed more than ever. I make a renewed pledge every school
year, as my boys go off to school and as my youngest becomes
more aware, to make sure that they have those feelings,
the same ones so many of us had so long ago.
The idyllic world of “Leave It To Beaver” is
today a distant memory. But instead of asking where Ward
Cleaver has gone--as songwriter Paul Simon once wistfully
asked about Joe DiMaggio--we instead should carry forth
those wholesome and decent values that beloved television
father figure embodied. For while “Leave It To Beaver”
was indeed a Hollywood creation, the fundamental themes
of that program were small town, Delta-like ideas that we
would do well to preserve.
It’s a cliche, but it’s true: our children are
our future. To make sure their future is one filled with
hope and opportunity let’s give them the foundations
now that can ensure just such a future. Sure, it’s
hard work---but can you think of anything worth having that’s
not hard to get?
As always, your comments are welcome. DBJ
Scott Coopwood
Publisher
