Summer 2012 letter to my great-grandkids

Hi kids,

It’s me, Great-Grandma Randi, writing to you from 2012. Even though you aren’t born yet, and won’t be for many years, I feel connected to you through your moms and dads, who are now 3, 5, 7 and 9 years old.

Do you wonder what the world looked like when your mom and dad were little kids? I’m here to tell you.

This has been a typical spring and early summer, I suppose, good news and bad. Speaking of downs, if I’m alive when you read this, I’m probably still working. These last few years, your great-grandpa and I saw our retirement recede into the future — the far, far future, as the stock market took a wild ride and took our money with it. Is Facebook still around? If it is, you may have quite a bit of money in your accounts, since I was an early investor. Call me prescient or call me sucker.

The world in June 2012 is in moderate disarray. Following the excitement and hope of the Arab Spring last year, which you have probably read about, Egypt is coming apart at the political seams. The Islamists are pulling one way and the military is pulling another way. Our government is probably grooming some dictator who will emerge in the next months. I know it’s cynical, my children, but I believe we will back anyone who leans toward the West, and maybe we need to.

The uprising in Syria has become so violent that the United Nations (does it still exist?) pulled out its troops and observers. Israel and the Palestinians are stalemated, and Yemen has become home to terrorists who want to destroy us.

Here at home, we’re just a few months away from the 2012 presidential election: President Barack Obama against former Gov. Mitt Romney. I’m wondering if there are Republicans and Democrats in your day or if we have evolved — or devolved — into another political system. I want Obama to win a second term so he can push through some of the programs that were stonewalled by Republicans in his first term.

Our economy is recovering from a serious recession, way too slowly. Too many people are out of work. Our students are falling behind in reading and writing and math. Our health care system is wasteful and unfair. I think the president needs another term to pass legislation that will set us on a better road.