I’ve been told that holding a grandchild is like no other experience and now I understand why. A week ago, I held my two-month-old grandson for the first time and realized I was touching the future. Because in 30 to 40 years I’m going to die and this grandson will be at my funeral; [hopefully] saying nice things about me and moving into a future that is beyond me.
We also touch the future by what we create. In the book “The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown, she states: “The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity. If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild an engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing – it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re creating, we’re cultivating meaning.” And with our art, we touch the future, because these things will transcend time and live beyond us.
In hiking, we touch the future by what we share about what we have learned from hiking different trails. I think of Fred Barr who defined and built the trail up the east side of Pikes Peak almost a hundred years ago. Every time I hike Barr Trail -along with the hundreds of thousands other hikers- Fred is reaching out beyond the grave to touch the future. And this also applies to all the other explores who set the trails on all the 14’ers and 13’ers in Colorado. Today, we have “14ers.com” and “The Manitou Incline, Everything’s Better on the Incline” as examples of Face Book pages, where we can touch the future as we share our stories and pictures from hiking that will touch others and help them as they hike more safely and “discover” new trails.
In our personal life, we can touch the future by the: stories, writings, and other forms of art we leave for the next generation. At my funeral, I can image my grandson will be able to read this trail tip from the book “Trail Tips – Inspiration for your journeys on the Trail, Personal, Work Life”, by Al Andersen. Like touching my grandson and writing this book, I’m touching the future because of the imprint I am able to leave on others.
In our work life, it’s often more than things we create. I think of all the videos I’ve seen on buildings that have been imploded to make room for “bigger and better” buildings (or even parking garages). Countless hours/weeks/months spent making sacrifices and with nothing to show for it years later. Hence, I think it’s more the: words we speak, culture we cultivate, and written words; that will touch others and their future. It’s taking the time to: instruct, mentor, lead, challenge, and guide those around us in our work environments. Imparting our knowledge, so others can have a better future. My son-in-law told me the story that while working at the Water Treatment Plant in Chicago, his co-worker and him had to pull up records from the 1920’s and they were surprised to find that the co-worker’s grandfather was the author of the diagram. So here is an engineer documenting the placement of water pipes almost 100 years ago, that will be read by his grandson 90 years later.
At one time or another, most of us have all thought about immortality; what is would be like to live forever. Movies, TV shows, books have all explored this in this in different ways. Holding my grandson for the first time, brought home the reality that we can all “touch the future” by: holding our children/grandchildren, the words/stories we say, the writings we leave, and the example we live. Or as Rich Mullins wrote in his song “Boy Like Me/Man Like You”
Did they tell You stories
’bout the saints of old?
Stories about their faith?
They say stories like that make a boy grow bold
Stories like that make a man walk straight
Al Andersen 