Letters to my Grandkids

On the homepage of this site, I discuss the core idea which is to harvest what we call fourth quarter information and distribute it to as many people as possible. In brief, such information is wisdom, in its truest form, built on a constructive and thoughtful life, and habitual attention to continuous learning.

We went through several iterations to experiment with how we might package this information. In the end, I thought of every essay on the site as a letter to my grandchildren, and yours.

In fact, many of the writings are actual letters which were composed, sent, and read by grandkids, from ages less than ten years old to over 21. The letters were rarely sent by email. They were produced and mailed in an envelope. At the time, I was living remote from my grandkids. I was trying to find a way to connect. I had been reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson by Jon Meacham and I was astonished at the hundreds and hundreds of letters exchanged between Jefferson and John Adams. I thought, why not letters – real letters? The point was to do something different to get their attention – their grandfather had something to say, he thinks it might have continued importance to them, and he hopes that they will put the letters away for future reading.

The purpose of the letters was to address real issues in life and to provide some counsel regarding how they might manage through these issues. They were intended to be a bit inspirational. Occasionally, a letter was produced for all grandkids. At other times, they were addressed to a single individual.

In time I realized that I wanted to address some large topics that would become important to them as they got older. But I could not wait for that time because I would not be there. I had to write my thoughts now.

So, I settled for a package that put the shorter Letters to my Grandchildren in this section and the deeper and more mature letters into sections under three topics: Public Affairs, Money, and religion.

The letter writing practice continues to this day. Except today, as I grow into my eighth decade of life, I like to think of my grandkids more generically, and not encumbered with an age restriction. The only qualifier is to find the information on this site useful. Hopefully, it helps you think about your choices and how to choose among your options to find the optimal path through any issue or junction, be it deeply personally or very public.