The elders are watching…

I recently found at the bottom of a drawer a t-shirt I bought more than 30 years ago at the National Storytelling Festival that said, “The elders are watching,” with a few of those elders peering down at us through from the clouds.

It reminded me of the old adage to live each day as if what we did would be on the front page of the evening newspaper, an admonition about the judgments of our contemporaries rather than our elders.

Our individual and collective lives would be much improved, I think, if we lived each day as if respected elders and peers, living or dead, were watching us.

Who would be your respected elders and peers? And what behaviors would you change or make certain to continue if you knew they were watching?

“This might interest you…”

I recently saw an older couple in a coffee shop sharing a newspaper. A print newspaper the pages of which were strewn about the table.

It reminded me of what now seems like a long-ago time when people commonly read newspapers over breakfast with family members passing around sections, often pointing out an article of interest or commenting on what they read.

In many ways that’s what these blog posts are — for me, it’s like I looking up at the breakfast table and saying, “This might interest you,” or “This point was really well made.” And, like at the breakfast table, it is hit or miss which topics will spark conversation.

It is the closest thing I have to those long-ago times, or at least my memory of them.

Have we irretrievably lost something when we no longer have the physicality of newspapers to pass around tables or physical books to share with friends, or is social media in its various forms as good or an even better way to share ideas and opinions with others?