Our parents had drilled us under the importance of using proper diction, of saying “going” instead of “goin” and “isn’t” instead of “ain’t “. We were taught to finish off words. They taught us a dictionary should be available for quick reference, which lived on a shelf in the living room of our house, its titles etched in gold. Any time we had a question about a word, or a concept, or some piece of history, they directed us toward those books. Our school teachers, too, were an influence, meticulously correcting our grammar and admonishing us to enunciate our words even when we were not in school. (They were our teachers regardless to the occasion. The idea was we were to transcend, to get ourselves further. They’d planned for it. They encouraged it. We were expected not just to be smart but to own our smartness – to inhabit it with pride – and this filtered down to how we spoke.

Today we notice a reverse in this generation where words are shortened and often wonder to whom are they communicating. The children are living in the age of social media and technology. Their language today is like written “shorthand” of yesteryears. Oh, how times have changed and have me wondering what next for this generation. Even as I recalled how it was in the days of Nimrod and the confusion with the various languages. Truly this is a different age but real parenting remains the same. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old will not depart from it.