The subject was brought home to us recently when our children and grandchildren were visiting. John and I were reading the paper, and one of the boys noticed the “comics”. They had never seen them before, because their parents, as is the case with so many of their generation, don’t subscribe to a newspaper.
Those kids were fascinated. We save the newspapers until trash day or until John can check to see if he’s missed anything, and now, till John has time to harvest the comics. Sometimes the stack gets pretty high, and Renie gets a bit impatient. Fortunately, we have the perfect place to stash them on the lower level of an old primitive work bench that serves as a narrow end table in the limited space beside the sofa in the “gathering room”, fancy name for the all purpose, eating, sitting, tv-watching, mud room.
There may be some life lessons here. Is it better for our kids to see us reading the real paper than staring at a device reading the e-edition? Especially when, at the same time, we’re urging them to put down their tablet or phone to go play, or to join in the conversation, or to pick up a book, or to eat their dinner sans a device in hand?
Just think of times when families divvied up the paper: “I get the sports section!” Give me the “society” pages.” “My turn for the “funnies”, while others waited for their turn to read the front page to see what was going on in the world.
Think of the jobs the real newspaper creates for young and old alike and the conversations that begin because of something that was seen in the paper, and the variety of viewpoints we should be exposed to if the “paper” is doing its job right and not editorializing in every article.
Something to think about for sure when we think about “getting rid of the paper”. As we send off the next batch of “funnies”, and those kids rip apart the mailer to see them, there’s the possibility that we may be incubating a new generation of adults asking, “Did you see the paper today?”
