Herman Sillas

VIEW FROM THE PIER
by
Herman Sillas

The summer is slipping by in San Clemente with fewer sun-filled days than in past summers. Fishermen thought they were fishing in February. The cold water kept fish away from our shores. Pier pals walked the pier wearing sweaters or jackets in July and August. No one trusts the weather experts anymore. What do they know? They talk of global warming while we have had one of the coldest summers in the last twenty years.

I feel like I’ve been robbed of a summer. But I know that we had one because a granddaughter, a grandnephew, and grandniece are entering college this month. Their “summer” vacation is over. Since our family uses any excuse for a party, we first gathered at Phil and Karen’s home, our son and daughter-in-law, to celebrate granddaughter Eliana’s high school graduation. Her girl friends attended and it was a girlie party with tears of sorrow and joy followed by dancing and laughter. Eliana will be attending UC Merced and plans on being a medical doctor. We can use one in the family instead of relying on all the comadres’ home remedies.

The next party we attended was for a grandnephew and grandniece, Cody and Sarah Callaghan. They came for a week visit to California to celebrate their graduations from home schooling. They will be attending a private university in the State of Washington. The big gathering was in Hemet where my sisters live. Cody, Sarah, and their younger brother Austin play musical instruments and formed a rock band. They played at their own party and were joined by California cousins for song and dance. It was a concert heard all around the block.

As I sat and listened, I thought of my day of entry into college some fifty-seven years ago. The technology advancement since then has been phenomenal. Internet communication was unknown. Recording music required studios and spools of tape. Lap tops have eliminated all that. Cell phones make every user a photographer, film maker, music recorder, and news reporter. On the edge of the cliff soon to fall off into the abyss are newspapers, letters, telegrams, and bound books, to name but a few.

So what kind of world will this new college generation be dealing with? They don’t know. Unfortunately, their professors aren’t certain either. Information is at the finger tips of access knowledgeable students. A classroom no longer is necessary. The role of the teacher has changed. Students want to learn how to learn not what to learn. Invention coupled with world wide instant communication accelerates changes in jobs which requires new training. Job security becomes an oxymoron. Having any job is like walking on stilts with a one shorter than the other. This generation knows that. Will jobs be that important in the future? Will something else be of greater importance? Who can predict this?

As I see the faces of my grandchildren and their generation, I don’t worry. Worrying about the future is as useful as trying to predict weather. This new generation’s criteria for success will be different from my generation. It always happens that each generation measures success based on its own criteria. Time becomes a much more accurate measurer as each passing generation makes judgement on past ones. This new group has more tools at its disposal than any other in history. What they do with them is their challenge. My grandchildren, grandnieces and grandnephews are eager, nervous, and committed to do the best they can. I can’t ask for anything more than that. Life without commitment it is like a summer without sun. Everyone complains. That’s the view from the pier.
***30***
(Sillas, a San Clemente resident and L.A. attorney can be found most weekend mornings fishing on the pier. He can be reached at sillasla@aol.com)