I saw a
video about a project to bring teenagers and octogenarians together. The gap between them is substantial... the latter lived through WWII, the
former goes to class knowing there could be a shooting on campus. One saved pennies and only went to the store with cash, the other can buy anything with a few clicks on their phone. The white haired folks searched for facts in twenty Britannica volumes on the shelf, the students use Google. One group struggled with declensions and conjugations to master a foreign language, while the other can simply download
Word Lens. Both know things the other could learn from, but sometimes the effort to connect feels like an impassible sea.
The elders had no experience with computers, or You Tube. The teens were willing to walk them through the process. Over the course of a few sessions they found their grandchildren on Facebook, and made videos of themselves
singing and telling stories. The younger people smiled at the chance to open up new possibilities to folks five times their age. It looked like a successful exchange.
I think God does it on purpose... gives some of the clues to one group, and another slew to a different cluster. Then to find out the answer to a simmering question like "How do I make this day matter?" or "Why do I feel isolated?" the two teams need to huddle. And
share.
Marriage can be another of those team efforts. John has an experience of life that is as unaccessible to me as a gmail account with no wi-fi. I in turn have a perspective that brings new light to his world. Our challenge lies in learning to cross the divide.
