Carl and Agnes Wennerberg are my grandparents who lived in Wisconsin. They were born and raised in northwest Wisconsin. My middle name was chosen to reflect and honor my Grandpa Wennerberg. He lived to be 83. Grandma Wennerberg's name means "purity." We named our youngest daughter Madalyn Kaya. Kaya means "purity"- this for my Grandma. She lived to be 86. Both my grandparents were very interesting people. My grandma one day had planned on rewarding Julie, Jessica, and myself as we were walking into the IGA in Spooner, to do some grocery shopping. For this reward, she stopped, turned to us, and pulled out a $1 bill. This was a big deal for her. I don't remember thinking it was very much money. I might have been 14 or 15, Julie 11-12, and Jessica would have been 7 or 8.
On another instance, and I don't remember the day clearly, but I think it was earlier than this. I was younger, and we were again shopping in Spooner or Rice Lake. Grandma, my mom and I walked into a store- it may have been Ben Franklins. I recall seeing a Where's Waldo book on the shelf, and began looking at the pages to find Waldo. Grandma saw what I was looking at and asked me what it was. Now, she was in her 70's, and not "in tune" with what us young Michigan kids were experiencing. I took very little time to explain what the Where's Waldo book was about, and without hesitating, she said something like this, "Well, what are you going to do after you find them all?", and promptly walked away.
She blew my mind.
This was a fun book with lots of characters on each two page "map" of people and things. Waldo was extremely hard to find, and there were probably 10-15 sets of "maps" in this book.
My grandmother knew that after I found Waldo, there would be no other purpose to this book. In addition, I think she considered it a waste of time to begin with, although she never said that to me.
I have thought of this one statement off and on since then. Some implications of this statement to me were:
1) The world will produce an endless stream of things to keep you busy. Sometimes this is intentional. Either intentional or not, many things that look charming, worthwhile, and useful are in the end, a waste of your time. The world doesn't think about you and your time, many times, they just want your money, or for you to encourage others to give them their money, or both.
2) The world's solution to many things is temporary. The book had an end. In addition, once I had found Waldo on each page, the entire purpose of the book was void. In a similar manner, the world finds a solution to our "book" needs, and gives us something that will end quickly or be void in spite of its claims. We may not figure it out soon enough.
3) Those who are older than us have a special ability to see through these flaws. It did me well to listen to her advice even though she left it up to me to decide on the purchase.
4) Grandma valued a dollar. She knew how hard things were through the Great Depression, and lived a hard working life as a farmer's wife. Mother of five, she knew what things would cost. Because of this, she knew that Where's Waldo would have been a complete flop for me.
5) In following the thought in #1 above, if things generally produced by the world are a waste of your time, than there must be something more valuable to do with your time. In essence, my grandmother said to me a couple things- "David, you and your time are more valuable than that book. You are better than that." -"Seek a higher goal for yourself. Pursue a better purpose." These two statements are inestimable in value to me.
Proverbs 1:8, Proverbs 9:9, Ecclesiates 1:1-7, 1 Corinthians 3:19
mom needs to read this.
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