Generational differences can be amazing. Of my two grandfathers, one was gruff but eminently loveable and one … wasn’ t.
FROM THE EDITOR
Nature or Nurture?
Margaret Sadler | Editor-in-Chief, news & views, ARTA
Generational differences can be amazing. Of my two grandfathers, one was gruff but eminently loveable and one … wasn’ t.
Yet, the meaner grandfather had what seems to have been an affable father and the gentlest of sons— my father. My maternal grandmother always looked depressed in photos; I remember her as a shadowy figure in the background. Yet, her wartime diary tells of an industrious and hospitable woman. One great-grandfather came from England around 1860 as a young man( under 20) and was abandoned by his mother at an Ontario train station. Another great-grandfather fought the Fenians in 1866. Both symbolizing bravery and endurance.
Hunting through documents to reveal more of the character of my ancestors, I find facts and figures but few details of personality or presence. How have these people created me? Their DNA is stored within me and I recognize my mother’ s face— and sometimes, my father’ s— but little else of these forebears.
The sweet, quiet grandmother died with dementia. The other grandmother was senile by the time I was born. Not as happy an inheritance.
Nature or nurture? What does my future hold?
Each generation has a different take on their own time frame. Teenagers today aren’ t anything like my generation of teenagers in the’ 60s any more than my grandmother’ s generation of her peers are like me today. At 75, my grandmothers were OLD; at the same age, my mother was happily visiting long-term care residences to read to the“ old women.” Now 75 myself, I’ m not feeling“ old.” Yes, one hip aches occasionally and I suffer an absence of nouns at times, but I’ m finding ways to be fulfilled.
To decrease the risk of dementia in women over 65, my kinesiologist recommends from her research that we focus on a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, a balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight, managing chronic conditions, staying mentally and socially active, and getting regular sleep. It’ s a long list. But we’ ve heard it all before. In each issue of news & views, we aim to strike these notes.
Nature and nurture: do what you can for your own health but also the health of those beside and behind you.
P. S. On the subject of steam engines from the spring issue. Yes, Franklin and Dale( and possibly more of you), you’ re right: it doesn’ t make sense that a steam engine could only make it eight miles between water fill-ups! I like Franklin’ s explanation that eight miles was a reasonable estimate of how far a farmer could haul grain in a day with a horse and wagon. Thanks for writing!
SUMMER 2025 | 7