The following is a KSCO commentary. Here is Kay Zwerling:
Let’s continue a little longer with the nostalgia. This is called “What Paul Harvey once wrote – ”
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I would like better.
I would really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes, homemade ice cream, and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would.
I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.
I hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are 16.
It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bathroom with your younger brother or sister. It is alright if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when she or he wants to crawl under the covers with you because she or he is scared, I hope you let him or her. I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.
If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt, and read books. When you learn to use computers, I hope you will also learn to add and subtract in your head.
I hope that when you talk back to your mother you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove, and stick your tongue on a frozen flag pole.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma and Grandpa, and go fishing with your Uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.
I hope your mother punishes you if you throw a baseball through your neighbor’s window and that she hugs and kisses you at Hanukkah or Christmastime when you give her a plaster mold of our hand.
These things I wish for you – tough times, disappointment, hard work, and happiness. To me, it is the only way to appreciate life.
For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.
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