Here are two comments that I read this week about the things that one generation leaves to another.
"Our parents' generation carried the past memorialized in paint, porcelain and wood; we cart it off. Even out national history is taught or remembered in terms of the worst we did, not the best." (thoughts of Inspector Dalglish in P. D. James recent myster, The Lighthouse.
"There must be some limit to the burden of remembering that we impose on our children and grandchildren. They will have a world of their own, of which we should be less and less part." J. M. Coetzee in his novel Elizabeth Costello.
I have always thought that the memes we bestow on future generations were more important than the genes we pass on.
Having written this down is a sure sign that I am in the last half of my life and have not admitted that fact before.
Posted by Wes at December 25, 2005 08:49 PM