We know both worlds
connecting our past with our present
“Sometimes I wish I could just rewind back to the old days and press pause…just for a little while…”
Next week would have been my father’s 100th birthday. When I think about all of the changes that have taken place during the past 100 years, I am astonished. Even when I think of the changes that have happened during my own lifetime, I am awestruck.
I came across a post online from a Facebook page I follow called Restful and I am quoting from it this week. After I read this post, I was reminded of the world I grew up in and how it compares to our current one. Sometimes it is important to remember where you came from and what you experienced, as you look ahead to where you are going…
I think my father would have been both astonished and dismayed by the world we live in today. It is so different from the majority of his life experiences and yet I think he would still be hopeful, as am I, that the “better angels of our nature” - our highest, most enlightened instincts—kindness, empathy, and reason—will resolve the many conflicts that we seem to face in our nation and our world.
“We were born in one world… and grew up in another.
A world where summers meant open windows, the hum of a box fan, and the smell of fresh-cut grass.
Where neighbors waved from their porches, and if your bike chain broke, you didn’t Google it — you knocked on a door and someone came out with a wrench.
We lived in a world built on patience.
We waited for letters to arrive.
We waited for the library to open.
We waited for our favorite song to play again on the radio — and when it finally did, it felt like magic.
Then, almost overnight, everything changed.
Phones shrank. Music became invisible.
News arrived before the coffee finished brewing.
We learned to type, to swipe, to tap.
We learned to talk to machines — and to have them talk back.
We’ve seen milk delivered to the door in glass bottles…and we’ve scanned groceries without speaking to a single cashier.
We’ve dropped coins into pay phones…and we’ve made video calls to loved ones across oceans.
We’ve known the deep quiet of a world without notifications —and the noise of one that never stops buzzing.
And sometimes, the younger ones look at us like we’re behind.
But what they don’t see is this: we know both worlds.
We can plant tomatoes and write an email.
We can tell a story without Google — and then fact-check it with Google.
We know the weight of a handwritten letter and the reach of a message sent in seconds.
We’ve lived long enough to understand that you can change without losing yourself.
That you can honor where you came from while still learning where the world is headed.
We’ve seen diseases disappear and new ones arrive.
We’ve unfolded paper maps — and followed glowing blue lines on GPS.
We’ve sent postcards with stamps — and emojis with a single tap.
And maybe that’s our greatest gift: the memory of a slower, gentler time, and the courage to adapt to a world that never sits still.
We can teach the young that not everything needs to happen instantly.
And we can remind our peers that it’s never too late to try something new.
Because that’s what we are —the bridge between what was and what will be.
And as long as we keep standing strong, the world will always have something solid to cross on its way forward.
Because every generation builds the road a little further —and ours?
Ours remembers both the dirt path and the highway.”
For information about why I started this newsletter, please go to the about section.
Tranquil Moments…
I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here is this week’s:
This week’s Smile video…
After an exciting championship win for the girls’ basketball team at Academy High School, a coach watched the tape, leading to an unthinkable act of sportsmanship. Steve Hartman goes “On the Road” to Oklahoma City for the story.
#believe #stevehartman #smilevideos
What I am reading…
This past week I read The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas by Jerry Dennis. I heard about this book while listening to NPR so I checked it out from my local library and I wasn’t disappointed. Here’s the Amazon summary:
“The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas is the definitive book about the history, nature, and science of these remarkable lakes at the heart of North America. From the geological forces that formed them and the industrial atrocities that nearly destroyed them, to the greatest environmental success stories of our time, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario are portrayed in all their complexity.
A Michigan native, Jerry Dennis also shares his memories of a lifetime on or near the lakes, including a six-week voyage as a crewmember on a tallmasted schooner. On his travels, he collected more stories of the lakes through the eyes of biologists, fishermen, sailors, and others he befriended while hiking the area’s beaches and islands.
Through storms and fog, on remote shores and city waterfronts, Dennis explores the five Great Lakes in all seasons and moods and discovers that they and their connecting waters―including the Erie Canal, the Hudson River, and the East Coast from New York to Maine―offer a surprising and bountiful view of America. The result is a meditation on nature and our place in the world, a discussion and cautionary tale about the future of water resources, and a celebration of a place that is both fragile and robust, diverse, rich in history and wildlife, often misunderstood, and worthy of our attention.”
Photo memories…
“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone…”
I love this photo of my father and my son Michael. I only have a few photos of them together and I cherish them all.
Mind/Body connections…
Listen to Dr. Wayne Dyer as he leads with positive meditations and thoughts before you go to sleep.
Comedy Lift…
I love to share funny cartoons or memes with friends and family. Who doesn’t need to smile? Here’s this week’s Comedy Lift…
Music Moments
Music inspires me in many ways. Here's Snoopy and Jazz - I love this playlist.….Enjoy!
Quote of the week
Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….
The Kindness Boomerang newsletter is a 2025 recipient of the Sunshine Blogger Award.
i often think of how much has changed in the time since my grandpa passed away about 15ish years ago, and also my mom almost 10 years ago! it's mindboggling, really.
I love the piece you’ve quoted from Restful on how some of us know both worlds, past and present.