The Power of Giving

The handing down of wisdom and life lessons from parent to child is the core of their relationship. (So is the decision by a child whether or not to pay attention to those gifts.) When we began to think about what one generation transfers to the next, it seemed so simple, so clear. We thought of the moral—things like values, and how a parent can communicate them. We thought of the physical–things like genes, and what can happen when those genes create a map for illness and suffering in the years ahead. We thought of legacies—an estate from a parent whose death changes everything. And, being Sarah Lawrence, we thought of teaching, and how teacher and student find glimmers at the end of the learning tunnel.

The common thread is generations; the common path is sometimes narrow, always winding. So simple, so clear: just life. That's all.