Letter to a Great Grandson : A Message of Love, Advice, and Hopes for the Future

Rating:
Summary: Very insightful book!
Review: Imagine coming "to the realization that the more you learn, the more you expand the periphery of your ignorance" . . . that happens when you're 18, according to Hugh Downs in his moving LETTER TO A GREAT GRANDSON.

Downs, who coanchored ABS's 20/20 and who hosted NBC's TODAY show for nine years, originally wrote this book as a letter to his great grandson . . . he meant it to be read at various stages of the boy's life.

It made me realize how much we can learn from our family and made me want to know more about my dad's life (hint-hint to him, if he's reading).

Downs discusses the joys, possibilities and challenges of infancy, young adulthood, middle age, old age, and everything in between . . . I particularly liked the fact that he helped me see that getting old is what we make of it, as evidenced by his own remarkable life . . . for instance, he went through the NASA space training that John Glenn did when both were 77.

There were many insightful passages; among them:
I tend to be a denier. This is not all bad. I tried to avoid the word "painful." I said my knee condition was "annoying." I did not want to believe the condition was (a) irreversible, (b) painful, (c) something that could diminish the quality of my life. The result was that, toward the last, if I walked six blocks in Manhattan, I found it "annoying" enough that I was ready to sit on the curb and wait for a cab.

The only strong feelings I have that might be linked to a religious outlook are of overwhelming gratitude at being favored with such a good life. If people who have been dealt a bad hand--people who suffer, physically or mentally, or are the victims of great tragedy--can manifest real faith, it would be pathetic if I couldn't feel something long that line, considering my fortunate
circumstances.

About ten years before you were born I interviewed a number of centenarians who participated in a University of Georgia study. They were the cream of the crop, because the study was not about disease and impairment so much as trying to find out what changes there were in healthy people that old. These people, men and women, ranged in age from 102 to 106, and like any other age group, varied widely among themselves. But they had a couple of things in common: not one of them was bitter, or hate-filled, or complaining. I wondered if that had something to do with their longevity. And while they were mentally agile, and in some cases quite sharp, none of them was
physically robust. You do not reach one hundred (or for that matter, eighty) and embark on a career as a star athlete.