Generations Past

As I was driving my daughter to school this morning, I noticed an elderly man, wearing an overcoat and pajamas, out shoveling the newly fallen snow. With broom in hand, he had made it to the last few inches of his walkway. An ever so light skiff of snow had fallen on the walk behind him. It seemed he had been out there for a while, as the snow had stopped within the last hour. His path was straight and flawless. There were no icy patches missed.

I was intrigued by the fact that this man had found clearing the snow from his walk to be so important that he simply threw on his coat, tucked his pajama pant legs into his socks and started sweeping.

On my return trip home, I started looking at the other walks, of my “one-stop-sign town”, and realized the only walks that were cleared were the walks of the elderly residents.

What a statement that makes of the generation past. I often find myself thinking of this subject. There are so many qualities of generations past, which have not held up to the test of time. Hard work has been replaced with an easy button. Taking pride in our work, our home, ourselves, has become selective. Respect, of others, no longer seems to be that which is earned, it has become an expectation or an entitlement. Respect, for others, has seemed to disappear unless there is “something in it for me”.

I feel there are many contributors to the deterioration of the values, morals and ethics of the generations past. Some we can control and others we can not. Some contributors have helped our world today. While conversely, others are tearing our world apart.

Then I ask myself. What am I doing as a human being, as a mother, as a partner, as a friend and as a citizen, to preserve the values, morals and ethics of the generations past?

I shutter to think of our world to come if we, as a future generation past, do not make a conscious effort to address this issue. Just as our nation makes its efforts to become “green” to preserve our planet, I feel we must, in addition, make an effort to become “keen” to preserve mankind.