July 16th, 2008,  a Wednesday

Today is a big day in our house.  It's a family birthday.  The Little Dutch Boy was born on a hot July 16th, in the middle of the night (of course), determined to do it his way, alarmingly quiet when he first arrived and then screaming his lungs out, fists clenched.  He almost seemed pissed when he was forced to come out, even though he made it very clear that he was cramped and ready to greet the world for quite a while before that.  I think it was because he wanted to determine his exact moment of arrival, not the damned doctor, thereby exhibiting his first absolute rejection of authority.  Certainly a sign of things to come.  No hugs and cooing from this one.  People were always chasing after him or gasping when he tried things that no child his age should have been trying (another sign of things to come).  Daring and opinionated, never satisfied, nap hating and adventurous, life was never the same in the Dutch house after that July 16th.  It's funny how he is a grown version of exactly the same thing now.  That makes a good case for nature rather than nurture.  How could his parents and their loving, warm environment have had much to do with it when he was just like that the moment he took his first breath.  It's ok, Mom and Dad.  There was absolutely nothing you could do.  The Little Dutch Boy is a force of nature. 

Speaking of life changed forever, it is hard to even remember life before the internet.  It still amazes me that I can write my blog, choose my image for the day, click twice with the mouse, and it appears for anyone with a computer and an internet connection to see.  Having that kind of access to so many people is scary and wonderful at the same time.  You still have to get them to look at it but then that part hasn't really changed.  You have always had to get people to go to your movie if you are a filmmaker, read your book if you are an author, try your food if you are a restauranteur, or buy your car if you are an auto maker.  (Seems not enough people are buying those General Motors cars and in cutting back, retirees over 65 are losing their health insurance coverage.  At least when I fail at the "choose me" game and no one reads my blog, nothing really bad happens.  I just get up the next day and try again.  When people don't choose GM cars, old folks can't afford to go to the doctor.)  It is really cool to be able to find anything about anything on the internet but it seems sad that students are missing out on the ritual of opening an encyclopedia when preparing a report about a far away country to smell the stale pages so infrequently turned.  Who before you looked up Burma to see a map, photos of the countryside, and to learn about what Burmese people do for a living.  Of course, it wasn't updated until a new version of the encyclopedia came out but there was always that salesman at the door to remind you it was time to make the purchase.  To make sure the world didn't pass you by.  Today the world could pass you by if you don't check the internet for a few hours!  

How do we protect kids from the parts of the internet that would be best unseen by a child, or anyone for that matter?  You probably can't but you can offset the damage done by exposing them to other things that are wholesome and inspiring.  One of those ways would be to take your pre-teen child to see "Kitt Kitredge, American Girl".  Good for Julia Roberts for taking an interest in this series and producing this movie.  Now that she is a Mom, she knows how important it is for old fashioned family values to be portrayed.  Now some would say that the "rose colored glasses" view of the world portrayed in this movie has nothing to do with the difficult challenges that so many modern kids face today.  But it takes place during the Great Depression when trouble was a way of life.  The plucky heroine, Kitt Kitredge, is a model of optimism, never give up spirit, and faith in people to do the right thing.  And her hair always looks darling.  No harm can come to those who see this movie.  You can't really say that about the same two hours a kid may spend on the internet.

The Dutchman is in Iowa visiting his 96 year old Mom.  I can always tell the change that comes over him once he arrives home, the beautiful place she calls the breadbasket of civilization.  His voice becomes calmer, sweeter and he is flooded by memories of a kinder time when he was a boy and life was simple.  He may even open one of the encyclopedias still lined up on the bookshelf in the dorm room upstairs he shared with his two brothers just to smell the past.  He will spend a lot of time reading quietly just as his Mom will, just as she has probably done every day since she learned how to read.  They both get their books from the library.  (I saw the Dutchman taping a corner of his library book's cover before he left.  He performed this gesture with an enormous amount of care.)  It makes me emotional to think of how much these things mean to both of them, to their family.  And it makes me very, very sad to think that the lifestyle they still embrace and respect will pass on when they do.  After all, today's Iowa kids have computers, too.  They play video games.  They go to the chlorinated community swimming pool instead of spending long summer days at the pit where the Dutchman used to lifeguard.  I'm pretty sure they still ride bikes and play Little League (hopefully).  So all is not lost. 

As for the Little Dutch (birthday) Boy, he is a reader like his Dad.  He used to read himself to sleep at night when he was a boy, preferring Mad Magazine to the classics.  But his reading these days is done on-line, the internet a feast of morning news and every silly and outrageous story he could ever imagine, every worthless fact he longs to know just because....well, just because.  He feels at home with the never ending possibilities of the internet, knows how to use it, and doesn't seem to miss the smudge of newspaper print on his fingers or the joy of simply turning the page. 

I hope the Dutchman really enjoys his visit to the past, his past.  And I hope he brings just a little bit of it back to me.  

GR