Pass it on – Mission Impossible

Misty Hollow Carving
This BLOG is sponsored by “Misty Hollow Carving”. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

My Web Site is a like a Gallery – please drop in for a stroll through.

To help me promote my Web Site please copy this URL address and email to someone today http://www.murraylincoln.com/

* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post


Pass it on – Mission Impossible

This morning I am attempting to do the impossible. I generally am very positive in all that I say and do… but this one is going to be a hard nut to crack.

Although I have not met the audience I know some simple facts about them. They are older people. The name of the group is “Learning and Leisure” and they meet once a month in a United Church in the north end of the city.

I have to be there and set up by 9:15 AM and the doors open at 9:00 AM. I have got to move my butt to get it all done.

The meeting time and the speaking part that I have is not all that long. In fact the planning, scheduling, preparing and getting my thoughts together has taken 10 times the amount of time that I will actually be allowed to speak. Oh boy.

Impossible was my word… in a few minutes time I intend to get a group of Senior people, all set in their ways, many with reoccurring physical problems and many with very full lives… to consider changing their ways of thinking… and doing things with the youth in their families.

I am going to ask them to consider doing something to let their grandkids, and great grandkids know what Grandpa is really all about.

I am asking each man and woman present to consider doing something to pass on their personal interests and abilities to their next generations.

No problem – right?

Don’t believe that for a minute. There are huge problems with this challenge.

The first challenge is that the Grandparent of 2012 is too busy to do such a thing. Their lives are more complicated now that their own aging is in charge of their whole life. Their early warning signs of ailments and the natural aging process with its breakdown of body parts, has limited them.

Add to this, their own family is so busy and the grandkids are so booked up that time with Grandparents is limited to impossibly complicated family visits that nothing of interaction happens between the younger and older group – at all.

If the teen does come over, he or she will be plugged into their electronic device continually. What they do now has separated them forever from their siblings, parents and grandparents. Even if the teen (grandchild) tried to talk to Grandpa about what they do or are interested in… Grandpa simply wouldn’t understand.

And that is only a few of the family obstacles that we face today.

There is a need to connect our aging present to the young person’s future, before we are gone.. or they are.

How will I do it?

On the table there will be stuff from the past… things that these people may know about… things that their parents and grandparents used and knew about… but they no longer use personally. The humor of that alone will strike my first point home…

On the table will be things that I love doing and that I now try to teach the next generation… my Tatting… my Wood Carving… my stuff of now…

And then finally… I intend to have the reverie of the moment broken by having my Cell Phone go off in the middle of what I am talking about… and I will answer the phone and return the text messages while I am speaking…

How inconsiderate on me to interrupt my own train of thought with the Irreverent and Unholy. Horrible Cell Phone – in a Senior’s meeting!?!

If their grandkids come over for their visit… their Cell Phone will come along as well… and so will their Text Messaging!

If the entire group is not mixed up entirely by the end of this meeting… I have missed my mark and goal.

My alternate title for my message today was possibly… “The irrelevant grandparent…” or “Grandparents – the Dinosaur of 2012”

There is quite a buzz going on right now with the Seniors that are coming to the group today… questioning what Murray Lincoln is going to talk about. The man that is my contact told me last night that, “I couldn’t remember what it was about… so I just told them that it will be good… and that they should come along.”

This should be fun.

Addendum…
I write this following my wonderful experience of speaking to this lively Learning and Leisure group. Their group launched in 1975 and has been going strong ever since. I was very impressed with the people that I met. And when I get a little older I may consider driving across the city to attend this group on a more regular basis.

Thank you Learning and Leisure folk for a great morning together.

BTW – the second presentations yesterday was amazing! We learned about the Victoria’s Quilt program where this amazing group of quilting folk make and supply quilts for cancer patients. Now this I can get involved with for sure! I intend to write more about this later.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/