A Letter to My Grandchildren
Dear Young Ones,
Greetings from 2005. And congratulations! You’ve lived through a time of impressive social and technological change, as evidenced by your very existence.
I know it’s hard to imagine that your Gramps Gompy Granddaddy Grandfather was ever as young as 27, but it’s true! I might even still bear a faint resemblance to that handsome devil (quantum leaps in medicine willing.)
Anyhoo, I’m writing to you today because a few hours ago I came across a Website comment that advised Web writers against ever using profanity because it might be possible, Google willing, for you lot to later read those very words. Well, your Grandfather got a little hot-headed and snapped back a response.
In fact, it would be fair to say that ol’ JSP told that dude to “fuck off.” Does that shock you? I certainly hope not. (If so, you might want to avoid the racy pictures Grandpa posted every once in awhile!)
I know you grew up in a post-Ashcroftian era, where you ventured out with the expectation that nearly everything you did in public could be recorded in some fashion. Maybe you even did the recording yourself. That’s fine, just as long as you remember that those images — like G-pa’s website here — don’t represent the sum total of your being. They’re just snapshots, moments in time, incomplete records of what you decided to do then based upon your whims.
As I hope you know, you have to decide how to live your life when you’re doing it. If later you look back and wince… well, shit happens. (Oops, there I go again!) You’re allowed to evolve.
So go ahead. Have a strong personality. Make daring decisions. Take some risks. Curse sometimes, even! Far from condemning you, your grandchildren might just see you as a real person. And hey, if they don’t, you can always cut the little bastards out of the will.
All my love,
J