Sterling Griggs

I am such a homer for the "way things used to be." Yeah, I was the guy that rolled my eyes whenever my parents or those from their generation spoke of how things used to be so much simpler/easier/more meaningful/etc., back when they were younger. My response to all of that was, "Come on, get with it! Today is so much better - we have cassette tapes, 5 cable channels, and more than one phone mounted on the wall in the house. What more do you want?" My eyes saw things only through my self-imposed utopia. Fast forward a few decades and now I'm a dad with four kids who all look through tainted lenses of their own. Whenever we are in the car and I come across a song from my high school or college days that jams, I get "the look" from them that I gave to my parents. "How can you listen to that stuff?" is written all over their faces. And yes, I find myself rehashing the tired line, "You know, when I was your age..." Please, bring me my...

As I was perusing social media sites this morning, I came across a blog post that has been rapidly making the rounds on Facebook. Maybe you've read it or seen others share it on their Facebook wall. In a nutshell, this blog post was written by a mother of three boys and one girl who, along with her husband, regularly check the social media sites that her kids frequent to make sure that the content is acceptable. Bravo! My wife and I do the same with our middle school daughter and, like the author of the blog, we edit as we see fit and "unfollow" some of our daughter's "friends" who are posting pics and phrases that we don't want our children to see (or us to see for that matter). Many don't think it's right for parents to "creep" on their kids' social media pages. After all, they are kids and deserve a chance to express themselves. But what would I have become (or any of you for that matter) if I was allowed to operate without b...

Have you been reading the news lately? Not a whole lot of positives are being splashed on the headlines, but then that's no surprise. Syria has done some pretty awful things to their own people, but then no one is really sure who actually authorized what so the world is at sort of a standstill on how to respond. Some want to bomb them to send a message, but without all the facts what good will that do? Then there's Egypt, another big mess. There were a much bigger deal before someone in Syria began gassing fellow Syrians, but they still have many problems that no seems to know how to work out. Hundreds are dead and the government is no longer trusted, but whose to blame for all of the problems? Just where does the buck stop? I'm glad I'm not the one making national and global political decisions because there seems to be no cut-and-dry answers out there. Diplomacy is always a good first choice, but when no one is listening it's hard to sit back and just tell ot...