Letter to My Grandkids

This is for all of my grandkids, but two in particular, Kira and Lindsay Drozdik.


I remember visiting with you shortly after the 2016 presidential election. It was a Saturday morning. You were crying. Your mom was crying. Hillary had lost and donald j trump had won.


I tried to comfort you and told you it would be alright. America has an ability to shrug off big things, enormous problems, challenges that would suffocate other nations. The rule of law would prevail. The institutions of our tri-partite government would sort out the problems. We would be OK and move on with life mostly unchanged.


Well. I was wrong; about that, and many things, actually.


I am sorry about that. Truly. I had thought your generation would have a healthy, vibrant nation handed over to you so you could unveil fresh new horizons of possibility in the future. You may still do that, but the nation you inherit is not healthy. It is a misogynistic, racist mess.


We tend to ignore these two issues. They are uncomfortable truths. They inform us of our own flaws. We don’t want to be reminded we are not perfect, lovable. And so we hide from them and try to live as though they don’t exist.


But they do exist. The ticklish issue is we need to love ourselves. Ticklish because we mistakenly think we have to feel better than someone else to be lovable. That isn’t true, of course; we are lovable because we are. We exist and are loved because we exist. That helps us love others. People loving each other builds society.


But feeling better about our self causes a focus on differentness. That becomes the problem. We fear different. We don’t easily feel what others feel. Diversity is differentness. Instead of pulling the richness from diversity, we allow it to divide us. That illogical step causes problems.


White privilege in America is a problem. It is an assertion that we are better than others. We white people aren’t better than others. Deep down we know this, but most of the time we don’t know we feel privileged.


Learning to live with reality is difficult. Your reality is your inheritance of a flawed society and nation. Generations have had hundreds of years to get it right, but they and we didn’t. I’m deeply sorry about that. I had hoped for so much more for you. But my generation flubbed it.


For the record, we tried to do the right thing. We learned from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama and so many others, that mankind is capable of beauty, justice and honor. Those are the high points. Unfortunately, they come mixed with the flaws mentioned before.


To do better, you will have to fix this. We didn’t. The difficult task is yours now.


The work starts with understanding these basics. They will help you deal with the tough work.

1.      Making the world better is your job as an individual; you set a standard to stand up and be counted, to take responsibility for the world as it is

2.      Understand the world as best you can. This takes education, curiosity and disciplined attention focused on facts and values

3.      Rejoice in the world’s diversity. It tells the story of many cultures and how they serve their people and make them whole. Diversity brings resources to the workplace and sensory world that enriches our understanding of life lived together

4.      Believe in possibility. Potential always begs discovery and solution. It rewards us with new futures unfolding 

5.      Truly live this truth: do unto others as you wish them to do unto you

I learned these things over a very long time through many trials and errors. Hopefully you will come to know their truth as I have. I mention them to give you a heads up to what’s ahead for you.


Know that you are loved and we trust you will do your best.


With gratitude,


Grandpa George


June 1, 2020