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Tales of ancestors can be inspiring.  As Mother’s Day passed, I was reminded of my aunt’s recollections of her mother (my mother’s mother).  Lorena is slightly older than my mother, her eyesight is waning but her memory is unaffected!  Here is a slightly edited version of what she sent me.

Learning to take the brightness of a situation, no matter how dark, and turn it into a joyous moment.

Your Grandmother (Naomi Lampman Merritt) was a Bell Canada operator in the very early 1900’s.  She was a music teacher, and married our Father at age 25 about.  She was a reserved person, but was the pianist for a great many public and private affairs.  Such a gracious, educated, reserved, loving person.  I always wanted to be like her… although I wasn’t but tried.

She was a great artist, and story teller and loved to read. Each week night from 7 to 9 pm we first had music, singing, playing instruments, etc.  We then finished with a chapter of Uncle Tom’s cabin, or some history and finished with Bible reading.  We were then tucked in bed, kissed good night and then she would winded down by playing classical music on the piano.

I always have liked classical.

What a privilege to have such an educated, wonderful Mom that never yelled at us, always talked to us and as a youth one could talk to her about anything.  After a thoughtful time she always gave good guidance. I always wanted to strive to follow her guidance.

Sitting with my aunts, the words of fun arose.  We were having a great time laughing and learning.  Then this rhyme popped up.  Learned decades ago, but fresh in one aunt’s memory.

I went to church tomorrow

I took a front seat at back

I fell from the floor to the gallery

And skinned the front part of my back

In the world of today, throwing something away – other than in your basement – is a tricky thing.

We are in the midst of demolishing a house.  Abandoned with nothing removed for years.

All we wanted to do was take the house, and it’s remains, and put them somewhere else.

But first we must sort.  Then transport the sorted materials to various waste and transfer sites.  With the hope that our sorting has been sufficient so that the waste will be accepted.

Now, this is not unusual.  Go back a century or so ago.  The rusted tractors were set into the back forty to rust and deteriorate.  Burnable materials were burned.  The outhouse was moved when the pit became full.

I guess the real change over the decades is the amount of anxiety we have with garbage.  Science has shown that almost all materials have the possibility of morphing into some type of toxin.  Without regulation we could be polluting ourselves and our children.  Better safe than sorry!

And so, I’m not out of sorts, just sort of busy sorting!

Humans have innate curiosity.  For all sorts of things.  And I use the term, “things”, on purpose.

We set out our data drag lines with morning coffee times and news casts.  We close our days with evening videos and Facebook trolling.  The rest of the day is more of the same.

Data can be loosely defined in our internet culture as bits of information contained in words, video, expressions, impressions.  Of course, the net catches what we want to catch (we call that bias), and sometimes unexpectedly surprises us (we call that aha moments).

We like to think that we are susceptible to only the factoids and not the misinformation of society. 

Wishful thinking!

In this day and age of information, there is a great need to reposition our data drag lines.

What should we be thinking on?  What should we dismiss or purposely skirt around?

We can determine to look for things that are true, honorable, right, pure,  lovely and admirable.  Our society needs clean minds to create a healthy environment.

We can determine not to troll for things that are shady, half truths, polluting, distorted and, slightly or largely on the wild side.  Sensationalism is not the necessary first placement of our data drag lines.  Airbrushed and sculpted pornography is a half truth and distortion of reality.  Resource investment gossip is a path to being consumed that often leads to bankruptcy.  And the list goes on.

Maybe Google maps needs to generate a set of directions for collecting data – a guide of biblical direction. 

Oops!

We already have that!