by Trevor Ruhland Allen

The latest thing I’ve freaked out about falling out of our list of values as a society is handwriting. I have some pretty nice handwriting! I pride myself over it, and I feel validated when people comment on it. This is especially important to me considering I am a guy, and I’m left-handed, two things that often make for bad penmanship. I have also freaked out in the past about the rise of the ebook. I love to hold a physical, papery-smelling book in my hands at night while I cuddle in my warm bed. You can’t really cuddle with an ebook! Am I right?

As much as it might freak us out, there are some things in the future that will simply become obsolete. They will be obsolete in that they will not necessarily be useless, rather just unvalued. Think about generations past and the things we hear them grumbling on about us youngsters and our degenerate vocabulary, or our low moral standards. Their complaints are superficial at best. At the core of their remarks they are simply saying, “You’re values are screwed up!”

We could become those same grumpy old people in the future and try our best to kick against the goads, but we would simply be ignoring the benefits of the values coming to fruition. Values are always changing. It’s the truths we have to worry about. Things like handwriting, ebooks, appropriate cellphone socialization, etc., are all ebbs of trends in history. Loving the people that come into your life, that’s a truth that will never fade.