3 R’s |
| Baggy pants, shaved heads, and pierced body parts make it difficult to remain hopeful that life as we know it will continue. However, two weeks ago an eight-year old boy named Jason restored my faith in the next generation. |
| I was walking to my mailbox when Melissa, the perky teenage girl next door, and her brother Jason shouted a cheery "hello". Ordinarily they would not be seen together because – well, because they are siblings. Nevertheless, this warm afternoon during Spring Break Melissa stood waiting outside for her boyfriend while Jason mastered the perfect wheelie on his bicycle. I asked if they were enjoying their week away from school, and inquired about their favorite subjects and least favorite teachers. While they answered, my mind wandered back to my elementary school…big brass hooks in dimly lit cloakrooms; Dick, Jane, and Spot; Neil Armstrong’s one giant leap for mankind. |
| The neighborly conversation subsided so I made some nostalgic comment to Melissa and Jason about the 3 R’s. (Folks from my generation know, of course, about Readin’, Ritin’ and ‘Rithmetic.) |
| Melissa looked puzzled. "The 3 R’s? Do they have a new CD?" Feeling slightly older than prehistoric, I surpressed the urge to give the legendary speech about "when I was your age…" Just then Melissa’s boyfriend sauntered up the street and escorted her into the house. |
| "Girls!" Jason said emphatically, rolling his eyes toward his brow. "They are so stupid!" In his eyes, of course, I am not a girl, but the ‘lady next door’, so I did not take the remark personally. "Are you saying that because she’s your sister?" I inquired. |
| "Yeah, sortof," he answered honestly, flashing a toothless grin. "But everyone knows what the 3 R’s are! Mrs. Jenkins taught us this year. Reduce, reuse, and recycle!" Jason then let loose with a 15-minute explanation of how we should reduce trash, re-use materials, and recycle things to be made into other products. "Like if you have computers, you know, you can send email instead of letters to reduce paper in the trash. And like those plastic bubbles that sometimes come in Christmas packages from my Grandma in Oregon? Well, we’re not allowed to pop all the bubbles ‘cause we re-use it when we send stuff to her on her birthday. And everyone knows about recycling cans and paper and junk." Spoken with authority, I thought. |
| Jason’s generation is going to be okay. They may not understand Watergate, may not have experienced the horror of Vietnam, and may not recognize the significance of Beatlemania. But they DO know about the 3 R’s. Not the same ones I learned in school, but every bit as important. |
March 30, 1999 |