200 year plan

[Buggaboo]

My paternal grandfather would have been fascinated by the idea of a 200-year plan. But as controlling and heard-headed as he could be, he wasn't a narcissistic megalomaniac, and he had a pretty good grasp of human nature. So he would have laughed at Geoff Botkin's fantasy the way he laughed at shifty or poorly-conceived business schemes other people always tried to talk him into funding.

My grandfather never understood why I moved away from my hometown--he chose that city as the ideal place to be while still a farm kid in Iowa, and until the day he died he believed it to be the best possible place to live. And he was disappointed that neither me nor my siblings entered the business he and my grandmother built from the ground up (it all went to my Smuggaresque father, and I have no idea where the remnants are going in a couple of years, once he's gone). But he'd made his own break from the family farm, against his parents' wishes, and 200 years ago one of his paternal ancestors did the same thing--heading out west, rather than staying in New York State. He understood that young people are always going to want to break out and do something all their own, rather than living the life their elders might plan out for them.

My grandfather was a very prominent businessman in my hometown. I grew up seeing his name and picture in the paper all the time. If I had to give my last name to strangers, I was often asked, "Are you related to--?" He also became fairly well-known in certain circles nationally, and even internationally, when he turned a favorite pastime of his into a profitable business. When he died, it wasn't a front page story, but it was definitely news.

Ten years after his death, however, he's largely disappeared from public memory. The last name is no longer so recognizable--when I get asked about it, it's always by old folks who have lived in my hometown most or all of their lives. Nobody under 50 remembers him, unless they were employees, and the people who remember him best tend to be in their 70s and older. When they've all died off, so will his public memory. And he accomplished a hell of a lot more in any given year than Geoff Botkin could hope to do in his lifetime.

If my distant ancestors, living on a farm in the Mohawk Valley back in 1812, had any kind of "vision" for me--well, I'm sure they'd be dismayed. There's no way they could not be; they couldn't have dreamed of the world I live in, or how American culture has changed.

They might at least be relieved to note that I'm honest, hardworking, frugal, pay my debts, do not smoke or gamble, and rarely drink to excess. I'm sure they'd raise their eyebrows at my unmarried, childless state, my long history of sleeping around, and my lack of any formal religious belief or education. The sheer number of useless cats, doted on and allowed free roam of the house, would no doubt baffle them. But since I'm already starting to take on the traditional spinster role of caretaker for my aging mother in small ways, and fully expect to do it in all the big ways, they might not think too badly of me.

Hmmmm I live in the Mohawk Valley, or very close to it. Interesting to find a reference here!