Hind-sight is 20/20.
Yep. It's true!
Looking back on any event in our lives we can, without any doubt, see where we went wrong and what we should have done to change the outcome.
Unfortunately, we can only do this after the fact.
This, I think, is totally screwed up.
I mean, if scientists can send a man to the moon, find cures to horrible diseases, why then can't they find a way to help people make better decisions?
I guess the main reason is that it would make things like MOMS and GRANDMOMS obsolete.
Just think about it.
If there were a way to fix your problems before you made them what would the Moms and Grandmoms of the world do with their unsolicited, and yes, albeit rarely, solicited advice?
All the knowledge they have gained in their lifetimes would be for naught.
No one would listen to them (assuming anyone actually does in the first place) and they would lose their place in the hierarchy of the American Family.
What would 'Everybody Loves Raymond' be without Marie?
'The Simpsons' without Marge?
'The Waltons' without Grandma?
The American Family may appear to be breaking down. The nuclear family appears to be failing. But in reality, it is making a come back. More families have mulitple generations living under one roof then I can remember in my lifetime.
Maybe the generations that have gone before are getting their message across?
Maybe Generation X is finding they don't know everything after all?
Maybe the Recession is making it impossible for young families to survive without the help of their elders?
Or maybe, just maybe, the American Family never stopped listening to the Matriarchs after all.
I think that the decline of the American Family Unit was a bad rumor spread to make younger generations THINK they were growing up and living their lives...
a rumor propagated by very wise women.
The Moms and Grandmoms who in their infinite wisdom knew that the only way to teach is to let their young make mistakes. Always secure in the knowledge that these fledglings would come back to the nest when they needed help, whether they realized it or not.
I have been a Mom for 29 years, the words coming from my lips falling on deaf ears.
Or so I thought until recently, when I became a Grandmom and heard my daughter telling her daughter the very same things I said to her as a child.
Then I heard my 20 year old son giving his 14 year old brother advice, the very same advice I have given him over the years.
Which leads me to believe that I am AWESOME!
Or I heard more of what my Mom was saying to me than I realized.
Probably a little of both....
But more that I am AWESOME!
(which I am sure my children will agree with as soon as they are parents themselves)
And that The American Family is not crumbling at all... that was just a rumor spread by those much wiser than the rest of us...
Our Mothers and Grandmothers... and for that I Thank Them.
2 comments:
It is interesting how at the time we think our parents are full of &*$@ and really don't know what they are talking about and then so much later we see that they made sense all along. We hate to admit it, that's for sure, but rest assured, if we seem like we aren't listening, we are hearing. Even though today I still take my mother's advice with a grain of salt. But there are other reasons for that.
YOU are AWESOME!!!!
My father keeps telling me that some day I am going to realize that I am a genius and all his advice was spot on.
Of course, I will never forget my high school graduation when my grandmother had some words of advice for me. She told me not to believe all that advice about following your dreams, because dreams never come true. Way to kill the celebratory mood with that one, Grandma.
Of course unlike my father you probably are a genius and unlike my Grandma I'm sure you don't go around bursting bubbles!
Post a Comment