Looking to the Grandparents for some Guidance

It has come to my attention that many of the regular readers of this column (especially in print) are grandparents. I’m flattered by the attention this august demographic has bestowed on the Daddy Days columns. Not the least because I can use words like “august” and not worry about your mind zipping to the dog days of summer.

But I realize there’s probably an opportunity for me to cater to my more seasoned audience.

This is partly because, like Miniver Cheevy, I look back on your formative years as the simpler times I wish we could return too. How great would it be if this column was only read in print and the dumpster fire that is Internet comment sections was just the twisted dream of a sci-fi writer instead of a depressing reality?

But mostly, it’s because when I reflect on the changes of the last half century or so, it makes me wonder what you folks who have lived through those changes think.

What do you think of the 30-something-year-old billionaires running technology companies with unprecedented influence over your kids’ and your grandkids’ lives? Does the idea of a driverless car, or a “smart” home assistant that listens to your every word strike you as more creepy than cool?

What do you think about modern work-life, education, and medicine? When you compare now to then, which side comes our wanting? I imagine you see tremendous inventions of convenience and innovation, but do you see a hidden cost that today’s young people ignore?

I think you do. But I also think you see a culture that’s indifferent at best to your opinion and experience.

As a society we undervalue the aged. Unless we’re talking about wine, bacon, or scotch, aged carries a negative connotation. You who are two generations (or more) into life surely have learned life lessons a 30-something hasn’t even encountered. And yet, as a culture we continue to worship at the altar of youth. Our cultural “leaders” are athletes and performers in the prime of their physical lives, who know less about life than their elders have forgotten.

Maybe kids being seen and not heard wasn’t the best policy, but neither is the overwhelming emphasis on “listening to the kids” these days. What happened to the concept of respecting your elders, or the idea that silver hair was a crown of honor and not something to rue or disguise?

Pardon the saying, but to the old guard I say en garde! As we’re slip sliding away into a morass of new is always better, faster is always better, and better is relative -- we could use some solid corrective guidance.