Length: 591 Words Reading Time: 3 Minutes
“Wuz Wuz Wuzzy was a wise old guy. Nose like a hawk and an eagle’s eye. Sharing wisdom was his game. Wuz Wuz Wuzzy was the old guy’s name.” This rhyme is a paraphrase of an old nursery rhyme that my father used to say to my two brothers and me when we were growing up in Philadelphia.
I wrote these letters specifically for the Millennial Generation because they will soon become the leaders of America in short order. The Millennial Generation and the one immediately following (Generation Z) include my four grandnephews and three grandnieces who are the sons and daughters of my four nephews.
I have styled these letters as white beard wisdom, because I do not know if they will resonate with Millennials and, perhaps, they should not. Passing wisdom of any complexity or depth to subsequent generations is not an easy task. In my case, I was 40 years old before I began to think critically about life and what it meant for me. A much more dramatic shift occurred even later when I suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2008 at the age of 65. That event was life-changing for me, and it became an inflection point for my life. I saw everything in a different light, and I shifted my reading, my thinking, and my actions in new directions. I became curious about many ideas, and the most critical questions that I kept asking myself were: Why do we exist? Why is there anything, instead of nothing? And, why is our world and our universe as they are and not something else? During the next ten years that followed my near-death experience, I read many non-fiction books that challenged my thinking. These books demonstrated to me that my understanding of life and many other things was rather shallow and superficial.
I have discussed the Millennial Generation with many friends in my generation and the Baby Boomer generation about their perceptions of Millennials. I often heard the same dire pronouncements about them, as if they (the Millennials) all have the same monolithic mindset, that is, they believe they are entitled. One friend opined that the Baby Boomer generation spoiled their children and grandchildren, and the Millennial Generation, with its sense of entitlement, is the result. I do not agree with that assessment, but it is clear that many millennials have a different mindset than previous generations.
I want to shift gears now to highlight an essential point. I styled these letters after “The Screwtape Letters” authored by C.S. Lewis, one of the most thought-provoking and most lucid writers in the English language. But, there is a significant and distinct difference. Mr. Lewis wrote “The Screwtape Letters” as if they were written by a senior devil (Screwtape) to a young devil who was Wormwood, his nephew. The purpose of Mr. Lewis’s letters was to demonstrate the presence of evil and how it manifests itself in much of what we see in our world and human nature. It was a cleverly-written challenge to evil and a superb defense of right thinking and ethical behavior.
“The Millennial Letters” are written for a different purpose and from a very different perspective than Mr. Lewis’s. I wanted to share my thoughts primarily about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and the greatness and goodness of America. I will write about American traditions, values, and principles. I also hope to offer some wisdom (such as it is) on topics that I believe are essential to living a life of significance and legacy.