Farmers Weekly Review

By Nick Reiher

Facebook, as well all know, offers a wealth of knowledge.

In addition to the most welcome pictures of cute pups, cats and other fur babies, it’s nice to see some recipes for meals that I love, or always have wanted to try.

It is also welcome to catch up with far-flung family and friends, many whom I have not seen in years.

Of course, we know Facebook is filled with experts on a variety of topics: politics; foreign relations; the economy; health; the speed – or not – of infrastructure improvements; and a variety of social issues, including who deserves to be recognized and how.

It’s easy to get sucked into any one of these, and I have; not as bad as 2016 to 2019, but still, someone’s gotta say something. Right?

You may be surprised, or maybe not, given my appreciation for food. But the only site I have opted out of recently had to do with thin crust pizza. With all the other hate and often-misplaced laughing emojis, having one person comment that the photo of the pizza shared “looked like a pile of …” was enough for me.

Then, there are the memes – well-meaning, I’m sure – that attempt to, ahem, point out the flaws in our current and previous few generations.

I’ll not get into the fray over student loans. If you don’t get it, you must not have had a child go through it in the last 15 years, or you are wealthy enough to write the checks.

But there are memes such as, “Know how to confuse this generation? Write in cursive and put them in a vehicle with manual transmission.”

I will admit it would be nice if cursive were still taught in schools. That said, how many people of the last few generations, or even of us Boomers, hand write notes anymore?

Former state Sen. Pat McGuire does. So does former Trinity Exec Art Dykstra. I enjoy their notes immensely. Handwritten missives do seem more personal.

I wrote a column after Ken Pritz – the visionary behind the salvage and renaissance of the Jacob Henry Mansion and adjacent site — passed away in 2015. Shortly after, I got a call from his daughter, Sue Pritz Bornhofen, saying her Mom, Carol, needed my address so she could send me a handwritten note.

When I protested, Sue said, no, her Mom prefers to send notes written personally.

I still have that card.

Not knowing how to write in cursive can be an obstacle. I recall a story about a young person who couldn’t sign a contract, but they didn’t know how.

Truly, these days, often we can get around this by using electronic signatures. But I still see memes imploring, “Why don’t they teach cursive in schools anymore?”

As you may have surmised, it’s because cursive – in our computer world – rarely is used anymore. You may as well ask why they don’t require Latin in schools?

But, if the lack of cursive bothers you, why didn’t you teach your kid cursive? For that matter, why didn’t you teach your kid how to drive stick?

If there is something you learned that they don’t teach in school that you think your child should know, why didn’t you pass along the lesson? Or find someone who could?

And before we go too much further, I can’t tell if those of you passing along these memes know cursive, but I do know you definitely don’t know grammar and punctuation. I find that much more inconsiderate and, frankly, sad, than a lack of cursive.

But what can we expect from these newer generations? Memes tell us they must not have had the benefit of punishment by spanking, belt whipping or wooden spoons.

After all, look how well it worked for Our Generation.

Yeah, right. We had it tough, so they should, too.

I thought parenting was about wanting a better life for your kids, even if you had a pretty good one.

Children learn more from parent or guardian modeling than they do from beatings, or the threat thereof. There is a lot of room for teaching between coddling and corporal punishment.

Disagree? Write me a letter. Spelling and grammar counts.

Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.