WASHINGTON  -  Honoring our forebears is a component of most of the world’s religions and cultures.  Here in America, Grandparents’ Day is a day set aside on the second Sunday of September for just that purpose.

But unlike our ancestors who lived hundreds of years ago, whose names we may
not know, our grandparents have played important formative roles in all of our lives.

There are many noble aspirations in life: to work hard, to succeed at your job, to
honor your duty as a good citizen.  The aspiration to be a grandparent, however,
usually reaches us later in life.  

 

When we get married and start a family, being a grandparent is furthest from our minds.  When we have children of our own, it is hard to envision them growing up to become parents themselves.  But when it does happen that we become the top tier of a three-generation family, the rewards are truly great.  Yet there are also important obligations.

Unlike parenting, there isn’t a section at the local bookstore for grandparents. 

 
As a grandparent myself, I know that the role is not always very demanding, but that
it is vital in the formative years of my two beautiful grandchildren (and any more that
may follow).  Part-time babysitter, teller of stories, bearer of gifts and provider of positive
reinforcement – the blueprint for a grandparent is fairly simple.

Our own grandparents had a big hand in mapping out that plan by fostering a strong
family that, all by itself, sparked the desire of our parents to have a family of their own.  We remember our grandparents for their unconditional love, perhaps because they are
not usually charged with disciplining us as parents would.  But all along, they are guiding the parental hand that raises us well – whether that hand rebukes us or rewards us.

And as children, our grandparents are our first measure of a full life.  They know
more about being parents than our own parents do.  They have held jobs, visited
strange places, and lived in times without the conveniences of modern life.

Through the eyes of our grandchildren, we grandparents are a repository of family
history.  We can confirm to our grandchildren that their parents were once, like them, new in the world.  We offer a glimpse into their future, and an idea of what it is possible to make of their lives. 

As young Americans, we grow up in a country much different from the land of our
grandparents’ youths; they sometimes grew up in different countries altogether.  Before we are born, they accumulate a lifetime of experiences.  And when we are born, they
begin to share their wisdom with us.

The lesson is that we must always be mindful of the generations that came before
us, who built our great nation and our great families.  Our inheritance from them is to
make our families and our country even better.  God willing, we will all be grandparents
someday, and pass that wisdom through the generations that will follow us.

So on Grandparents Day, we should do more than thank our grandparents for their
love and guidance for us.  We also should take a moment to envision the future, to think
about the families we want to continue on after we have gone, and to recognize the
grandparent in all of us.