Aspiring To Surpass Google
Cartoonist Gary Brookins and one of his regular readers/fans from Virginia inspired this column.
Brookins creates “Pluggers,” a single-panel cartoon that appears every day in the Evansville Courier & Press. The fan from Virginia suggested a theme: “A grandpa plugger’s bucket list will never be completed.”
Brookins drew a panel featuring a grandpa and grandchild looking up into a star-filled night sky. “Now, look north of Perseus,” grandpa said. “Do you see the one that looks like a sideways flattened W? That’s the constellation Cassiopeia.”
“Gosh Grandpa,” the youngster responded, still looking at the stars. “You know more than Google.”
Since seeing that comic, which I cut out and saved, I have begun my quest to “know more than Google” because I have a new grandson to impress.
Jackson, my first grandchild, was born a couple of weeks ago. He, Mom and Dad are doing well. I have seen many photos; I never appreciated photos in text messages so much.
I look forward to recreating that “Pluggers” strip with him down the road. After Cassiopeia, I will show him how to “star walk” from that constellation to find the Andromeda Galaxy, which is fairly close by in our night sky.
We’ll look at Andromeda and the Orion Nebula through a telescope, and I intend to provide him the chance to see Saturn’s rings with his own eyes far earlier in life than I. I’ll show him that area of the full moon where Apollo 11 landed.
I’m planning to introduce him to my love of radio – not TV, computers, gaming or social media. I hope he will find Amateur Radio, in particular, as cool as his Grandpa has since I was a youngster. If so, he also will have a chance to earn his license and get on the air far earlier than I.
His Dad and I – and his Grandpa Greg – will share his introduction to all things outdoors … fishing, hunting, camping, etc. His Dad will take care of the football; I hope to do the same with baseball.
Most importantly, I want to introduce him to God. I believe that because of his parents, in particular – but with a little help from me – he will learn what it means to respect the dignity of all people. He will learn what mercy and forgiveness involve. He will learn that God walks with him every step – and knew him before he was in the womb.
I hope and pray that Jackson has a long and wonderful life ahead of him. I hope God blesses him with even more wonderful things than I have been blessed with in slightly more than six decades.
I hope God blesses Jackson with the chance to experience the joy of being a Grandpa himself someday. I have little doubt that, as a Grandpa, he will indeed know more than Google….
