I wrote anopen letter to Emeline when she was born, which was, as of today, two years ago.
Here's a new one for her.
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Dear Emeline:
Walking out to my car the other day, I stopped and looked at the setting sun, red and glorious. Pink clouds blanketed the fading blue sky. A big flock of birds dotted the horizon. A little closer, some egrets were celebrating an early dinner in the marsh field near my office building. Frogs were tuning up for their evening rituals, though you had to listen for them over the cricket noises.
You would have loved it. I could almost hear your go-to question you pepper us with over and over again: "What dat noise? What dat noise? What dat noise?"
Your nearly-insatiable curiosity: it is one of my favorite things about you, which is saying something because you are turning into a great person with many, many wonderful qualities.
I hope you stay curious. I hope you keep that inquisitive sense about you for a lifetime. I promise, it will serve you well later in life.
Unfortunately, we're living in a time where curiosity and a sense of wanting to fill the empty spaces in our minds has been devalued, almost to nothing. We live in a world of selective facts. You can simply deny the truth, and when you deny it enough times, that falsehood becomes true for you. You can choose a predetermined world in which an entire belief structure is preconceived for your convenience.
We're living in a world where intellectual curiosity has been vilified. The quest to expand our own knowledge -- and our collective knowledge -- is derided as elitist.
One of the things I want for you very much is for you to make your own decisions about who you are and what you believe. The way you get there, though, is by asking questions. If you just turn on the TV and wait for some talking head to tell you what to believe, well, you'll eventually believe anything... even if it's not true.
As for our nation, I'm hoping this is just an unfortunate phase our country is going through (kind of like with you and sleeping these days, but that's a conversation for another place and time). Don't worry, I believe our country will get better. We don't really have much choice.
As for you, I'm hoping that as you get older, you'll never stop asking: What dat noise?
The sun sets in the west, and birds fly and sing, crickets chirp and froggies croak. Today you're asking what those noises are. Tomorrow, I hope you ask why.
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