December 4, 2025

AI could never get sentimental about a swing set. 

Whenever I pass a swing set with children playing, I get this melancholy feeling that is hard to describe.  There is something about the familiar sound of the chains creaking that tugs at my heart.  It brings along a rush of childhood memories. The tingling of excitement in the pit of the stomach as the swing arches higher and higher. The ache of legs pumping wildly against the gravity that would hold us down.  The feet reaching for the treetops.  How much higher we could go with that helpful push from an older brother or sister or friend. My wish is that this feeling of joy could last forever for every child, but I know that it won’t.  I guess that is where the melancholy feeling comes from.

 AI could never replace the sounds of a swing in motion.  The one that we feel in our heart.  The one heard in the park by the sea, as a father pushes his daughter. Her voice sings through the air with that everlasting plea … Daddy…higher.  In a hospital in a far city, her mother and brother await the latest round of treatments. Childhood leukemia.  Those words hover silently, puncturing the idyllic scene.  My heart aches for this family.  And yet, the swing still creaks, metal upon metal, that sad but beautiful sound.  This observer on the park bench watches her little granddaughter carefully climb step by step up to the top of the highest slide. She silently counts her blessings knowing the uncertainty that life can bring.  

AI is noted to be able to count until infinity and even beyond if that is possible, but it will never be able to count its blessings.   Life is a gift to be appreciated, and that gift belongs to the human soul.