You do not need to have grandchildren to join me this week as I reflect on what I would like to say to future generations as we pass the torch of humanity on to them. I first wrote a letter to a grandchild in 1994, when my first one was born. I wrote the next one in 2014 by which time I had two more grandchildren. Family dynamics being way less than ideal through the succeeding years, I have never gotten to know any of these young people very well. Nevertheless, I care deeply about future generations and what kind of world we are leaving to them. We have failed them in so many ways.

I had originally intended to fulfill an Auction purchase this week and consider the question of why we can’t all just get along, despite our differences of opinion, especially in a world where we know this can happen. Most likely part of my answer to that question would take me into the subject of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. I am not prepared to do that quite yet. It occurred to me, though, that a crucial part of learning how to get along with others is formed in our childhood. The same thing is true about how and what we learn concerning forgiveness — assuming we consciously learn anything about how to forgive others.

Can we un-learn patterns of how we respond not only to minor hurts and betrayals that others have done to us, but also to the major atrocities that one group of people does to another? Because the year 2020 has been such a dramatic, traumatic, unbelievable year in every possible way, I decided that writing a third letter to grandchildren now rather than waiting for the third addition (which is not due out until 2024!) is relevant to both those topics: talking to people with whom we disagree and forgiveness. This week, then, I will start with childhood and see where it takes us. Please join me!