When I was a teenager I heard people talk about the weather-especially grownups. I was interested in exchanging knowledge and this seemed to me pointless. When it was raining, like duh all could see it was raining and all experienced how hard or soft the rain fell. When the sun was shining, duh, the sun beat down mercilessly on us all. Pointless.

Of course, I was one of those who answered, How are you doing? truthfully. To me all those who scurried away from me after I told them what I was into, was another example of people who had no desire to obtain knowledge.

Back then relationships held little meaning. Weren’t we here to acquire knowledge and he who had the most would come away with the spoils, isn’t that right? Problem is when we all get educated and go to college, we are all on the same playing field. Kinda hard to tell who is better, just on the basis of knowledge.

Take two people who greet each other. One likes birds, the other likes plants and gardens. One likes parrots, the other likes to bike. One loves dogs, but the other loves cats. Yet there is something within these two people that attracts each other. Maybe they are both raising a family, maybe they belong to the same garden club, or maybe they sense a caring person in the other.

So what do they do? After greeting each other they seek to find something to continue the conversation. What they stumble upon is the weather. The sun and wind or clouds and rain this they both experience. This they can talk about. The rain or lack of it would affect one’s garden while it might affect the amount of biking the other could do. They have settled upon common ground and it feels good.

Whether they continue the conversation or not doesn’t matter, but what does is that they have found something they can talk about to build upon. Who knows in the future they may actually develop a relationship which may turn into a friendship. But it has to start somewhere and yes relationships and caring is where it’s at.

The younger generation has developed a disturbing greeting of “Hey”. The other person replies with “Hey” and they go on their merry way. Perhaps it is their way of getting real–of saying why should I say “How are you?” if I don’t really mean it or don’t want to hear it? But how do you build a relationship on “Hey”. At least some of us will answer “What?” and wait for the other to either tell us something or ask a question. There is some meaning in that. But just to chase one down with a “Hey” is really pointless toward building relationships and that begins another story…

When I looked up from my spring cleanup this morning, I saw two girls side-by-side walking up the hill to the bus stop. They were either in middle school or maybe even freshmen in high school. It was apparent that their minds were on guys with the sleek way they kept their long hair and their clothes. Their thoughts were probably about whether the guys would accept them as cool girlfriends.

Yes, they are in their prime – their whole life is in front of them. But will they make the right choices? Since I don’t know them personally, I can’t answer that question. This I do know that without clear-cut goals they may be headed for failure. So why do I even suggest this?

What is there to do in the city? Movies, clubs, malls….you get the drift. In the past there were 4-H and Christian clubs even in the city or schools where young adults could learn to sew, knit, crochet, bake cakes and cookies, and even go on outings in the country. Most city youths, today, think these activities to be uncool. I have even heard it said that “I don’t do manual labor”–which included shoveling the snow or working in the dirt in a garden.

In the past I recommended taking kids to the country to learn how to farm or even tend a vegetable garden. I still think this is great. But what percentage of the city kids will actually do this or be willing to go to learn to work in the country? Instead, bring the country into the city.

My good friend Pat introduced me to a spotless gardening method. It’s called aquaponics where you grow plants in a barrel or trough. I suppose you could get as fancy as you wanted to make it even look chic. The basic premise is that there are 3 water containers that feed one into the other creating a huge circle. One barrel holds the fish. Ever hear of fish emulsions? Well, these fish provide that and it gets siphoned into the 2nd or nutrient barrel. Lastly the nutrient barrel feeds into the gravel barrel which also holds a series of upright pvc pipes where the plants grow. These plants are fed with the fish emulsions and the gravel serves to purify the water. This purified water siphons back into the first fish tank. This is why it’s called a spotless system, there is no soil involved.

Once this catches on, imagine that all those unclaimed city lots may just disappear. Where gray encrusted packed-down soil existed, it may just turn into green and more green. So… where do goals come in?

Once a child or youth has some responsibilities, it puts them in a more responsible mindset and they start thinking clearly. Either they realize that there is more to life than just movies, clubs, and malls, or they get deeper into their aquaponics hobby and an entire new world opens up that they didn’t know existed.