A Reflection:

Not a Schwinn from Sears

I dedicate this story to all parents especially those that homeschool

I just took my dad out to dinner for his 88^th birthday, God Bless him. I am now going through some boxes in the garage and found this picture of my first bike. Add to that, Connie just attended a mandatory workshop, at her work, on generation difference from the senior to the boomers, X- generation and Y- generation. Yikes!

Seems like a good time for “A Reflection”

The attitude about almost everything has distinctive differences from generation to generation, and the changes don’t seem to be going in a good direction.

Yes, it all can be explained by this bike.

Clearly the bike seems, humm . a little big. You might say!

Well let me tell you the story behind this bike, after all it can explain almost all of our generation difference, that’s what I said, right?

Let’s go back to, let’s say, the year 1957. My dad worked at McCoy Ford, a body shop in Anaheim. On Saturdays, as well as many summer days, I would go to work with my dad. Hang out, watch what was going on, and pound on some metal. But mostly watch how grown-ups and especially dads conducted the business of life. I learned how to follow orders, set goals and complete tasks. I learned how to take pride in your workmanship and help your fellow workers. What do you do when your boss barks out order, how to handle different types of people. And how to solve problems, yourself.

At times my fathers would go purchase parts, often used parts at some junk yard. I learned to haggle and still be honest. I think the most valuable thing I learned working with my dad, besides hard work, was patience. I watched my dad take things apart, like motors, and put them back together. Often, things didn’t always work right the first time, so he would just take it apart again, and again, and sometimes again. My dad could fix anything, and I learned his secret, beside determination, was patience. I wanted that, and now I have it, and it has served me well, in many ways.

I think I better get back to the bike. The bike started out as two bikes. I don’t know where he got the bikes, maybe they were junk, maybe he paid something for them, and it doesn’t really matter. I remember we worked on the bike together, there was disassemble, welding, painting and re-assemble. And boy was it ever the best day of my life when it was all finished. Yes, it was a little big. I figured that out though, I had a milk carton for getting on, and I could get off by glided up next to a curb. If no curb was available, a crash on a lawn would do just fine.

I could go on and on about my childhood, as I’m sure everyone could, but I better get back to that generation thing. The different attitudes from the different generations. The Y’s seems to think the X’s want to micromanage everything in their life. The X’s and the Y’s think the boomers work too hard, they should retire. They think the boomers and seniors are too uptight. The Y’s don’t like making commitments, and believe in complete diversity. They basically feel they are entitled to reap the benefits of the generations that came before them, weather it is wealth and the things that come from wealth or freedom that came from the sacrifices of those men and women that fought and died for our freedom. And to them freedom is interpreted as being free to do as they please. Freedom from rules and even freedom from parental authority. Oops, that last part was a little opinionated. Humm, I think I’m on to something too big for this blog. Lets get back to the bike lesson.

The real reward that comes from the choices parents and grandparents make is not the cell phones, I-pods, computers and other material things we give our children. No the real reward is the character we develop that comes from the way we live our lives. And that’s Something we just can’t give away. It is something we must learn for ourselves. I’m grateful to my dad for that bike. From that bike I learned to fix things. And I learned to solve problems. I just don’t know what I might have learned from my bike if it was a new Schwinn bike from Sears.

Character comes from planting, fruit comes from harvesting. We need both.