#14 in a series

July 25, 2026

We may turn to the genius of AI to help guide us when a child has an unexpected illness.  Warm or cold compress for an earache?  How much Tylenol in a day is too much?  We’ve come to depend upon it as a no-nonsense place of advice.  After all, it has “trained neural networks to identify patterns and associations in the text, relying on massive datasets previously ingested” to come up with the answer.  That quote came from AI, so… who knows. 

What we do know is that “ingested datasets” can never be concerned about the future of the kids here on planet earth.    I wonder if it ever becomes unhappy with its steady diet of data.  Does its memory bank include being loaded into the station wagon with brothers and sisters to head to Gray’s Ice Cream in Tiverton, Rhode Island?  Does it remember the joy of licking a cold cherry vanilla ice cream cone on a hot summer sidewalk when life’s biggest challenge was to catch the drips before they fell to the ground?  The shop is still there, though I worry that today’s kids might have much more on their mind than a melting ice cream cone.

I did pose this question to AI: “What should we do about the kids?”  The answer came as an AI related one, of course.  It explained how to guide kids through the AI era.  Actually, it was some pretty good advice about navigating them through its ups and downs.  After all, who should know better about managing the tool than the tool itself.   What it did not offer was help with the bigger question on my mind about the kids we are all raising on this fractured planet.  Even if we are not actively raising children, we are all creating the future world that they will live in.  

As I write, wildfires are ravaging so many parts of our earth from the wilds of Canada to parts of France and Spain.  It is hard to imagine the numbers of acres that are being destroyed along with so much history and memories. We count our blessings that New England has been spared the flames, but we know how quickly a fire can spread … like wildfire they say. Our recent heat wave earlier this month makes us realize that there isn’t a place on earth to escape the weather extremes.  And then there is the steady stream of news that permeates our well-being with reports of bombs being dropped and the threats of more.  Soldiers and civilians dying in a war that has no reason. When will there ever be peace on this planet?  Please don’t say never.  I believe the individual heart is better than that. We have to be … for the kids.

I guess I have answered my own question here.  The best thing that we can do for the kids is to be better human beings ourselves.  Have you ever smiled and waved at a small child on a bus or supermarket line and watched their skepticism over a stranger turn to one of pure joy that someone took the time to care. Every kindness given, every support offered and every piece of pollution not created on a person-by-person scale can make a difference. 

Here in the garden, a small white moth alights on a sun dappled lemon balm.  This mint has the uncanny ability to survive even the strictest weeding.  It seems determined to take root anywhere it can so it can bloom for the bees and other small creatures of the garden.  I can hardly argue.   Towering in the back yard, the pink blossomed mimosa tree permeates the afternoon air with its sweet summer fragrance.  I am thankful that some kind bird or waft of wind left a seed here years ago.  Nature is thoughtful like that.

For the first time in many Julys, the grass is still fresh and green thanks to the recent rains.  After its searing start, this July is shaping up to be a perfect blend of warm summer days and cool nights.  The sunflowers are sending up new shoots after some unnamed deer did a little creative grazing earlier this month.   This earth has amazing regenerative properties. It has survived so many tumultuous times in the past through sun and drought, wind and rain, snow and ice, and deer. 

Through it all, this world is still a beautiful place to exist. My wish for the future is for our children to be able to write these same words, with their own hands and with their own minds from their own hearts.