If You Were President for a Day

Did you have to write an essay on this subject when you were in school? I certainly did, several times. I remember the topics back then varied from making ice cream mandatory at every dinner table to wanting to bring back my favorite lost puppy. Over the years some of these kinds of essay’s get published in family magazines, but with the demise of that market we don’t see those sorts of gems of wisdom from our youngsters any longer.

It does give a great deal of cause for thought. Today, with all you have seen in your lifetime, can’t you think of a few really important topics you would like to address if you had that title? Oh, we’d all like to see everybody make a good wage and have health insurance and lots of other things, but what about some of the more subtle one’s? You know, the ones that are the building blocks upon which most of our lives have as their foundation. Those basic values that rule our lives, the simple stuff that your folks probably drummed into you as a kid like “clean your plate” or “always do what the policeman says” or “respect your elders and your betters”. It’s funny how many of those stick with a person and in a very quite and subtle fashion, guide our very lives.

When I work up North I am constantly surprised at the looks people will give me when I say “yes, mame” and “no, sir” and “thank you very much”. They give you that look, as thought you are speaking a foreign language. It’s as if they have never heard such a thing in their lives and depending on where you are, there are quite a few people that really haven’t.

Much of these same things follow us throughout our lives. Some we accept without a second thought while others are challenged early in our lives. Through it all we become the people that we are and are known to be. No wonder we preach to young parents the importance of those “formative years”. Yes, it’s true. The habits we learn from birth until about year seven are the most important. If we swear and talk about hate and anger, our children will adopt those as part of their “normal” behavior and question those around them if they too don’t follow the same path. Does it take a village to raise a child? Well, despite your opinion about that catchy book title, the fact is that it’s true. If we parents and elders don’t reinforce those same values from one generation to another, something gets lost.

You doubt me? How many times have you sat down at an eating establishment only to have your server come up and say “what are you guys having today?”. The simple recognition of adults is diminished; is it no wonder that elders in our society are ignored, packed away in old age homes, and generally treated in a way that our own parents would have sternly lectured us about if we acted that way?

It’s certainly not a perfect world, but if you look backwards at our last dozen generations I think you’ll agree that some of the fundamental things we were taught have been lost and in that loss we have also changed our society in ways that don’t appear to be for the better.

You don’t have to be the president for a day to make these changes. Itstarts one conversation at a time. It is the duty of the old to teach the young, so best get cracking folks, we have a lot to do and not as much time as we’d like!