07 April 2003 01:35
have i already spoken of umbrellas? if so, please pardon me.it was raining beautifully today. it started while we were at church. actually, the power blinked for a moment right after the sermon. it was interesting to watch the preacher.. he wasn't phased much. he hardly ever is methinks, rather confident in front of people. he quipped about being "victims of our technology" and kept going. another item of interest was the difficulty the congregation had in singing songs with the computer (and therefore powerpoint) down from the power loss. they did finally make it through amazing grace without too much difficulty. but i think the number of songs my home congregation could sing from memory (3 or 4 part harmony to boot) would amaze these people.
there's something that always puts a wistfully sad feeling in me. the generation of my grandparents is a veritable storehouse of knowledge that my generation cares nothing for. right now i'm singing along with a classic rock song on the radio, as i can do with 80% of the songs on the stations i listen to. on the other hand, i know a fair number of hymns, but nowhere near as many as my grandparents. the family history stored in my granddad's head is amazing. anytime we go for a drive in his home area, there are stories he can tell the entire way about people and places along the way. when we were young, my cousins and i weren't much interested in his stories. he can take on a rather patriarchal tone at our semi-annual reunions, and he obviously enjoys his role. we would silently sigh and settle in for the long haul. but of late, in the last year or two especially, i've tried to pay sharper attention to him. there is a wealth of learning to be had, if we but listen and observe. my other grandpa doesn't have a whole lot to say, he's always interested in what i've been doing, sometimes it's downright hard to get information out of him. he has learned well the principle of "it is often better to listen than to speak." but i can learn just from his behaviour. he has hung out with God a lot more than I have, he is sure and steady, calmly living his life in the hope of Christ. meanwhile i'm down here bouncing off the walls making a fool of myself. tell me who is wiser?
history repeats itself eh? and we are to learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us, for we have not time to make every mistake there is to make in our lives. in wondering how much learning is being lost between my generation and our grandparents, i also wonder how much was lost in the gap between our grandparents and their grandparents. or what they have to learn from us. my grandpa is continuously questioning me, what do i think about this, or that. it's weird sometimes to have that much credibility given to my knowledge (esp when it is often knowledge and not wisdom). i find myself having to be careful to not fudge the things i don't know just to seem confident in my answer.
i remember when dad first took my advice and said, "hmm, that's a good idea." you know how three year olds always have a suggestion, and as they grow up we continually say "un-huh" and keep thinking about the problem ourselves til we solve it in a practical fashion. the days when dad stopped saying, "no, we can't do that because" and started saying "you're right, that would work" was an eye opening one. now there are subjects where i am the sole source he relies on. just like i'd go to him before making a decision on which car to buy, and to mom before making a financial decision, he comes to me for advice on electronics or computers, or anything aviation related. after 15 years of being the child of my parents, it feels weird, good, and daunting to have them treat me as an adult even after all these years after they started the transition. i just hope that my kids at 20 will be as impressed and thankful of me and my wife as i am of my parents at this point of my life.
so i meant to give an ode to umbrella's, not the older generation. i guess that means i'll still have something to talk about tomorrow :).
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