Here’s a funny little story I read this morning. It should make you chuckle and at the same time consider your role in the world.

A college student at a recent college football game challenged a senior citizen sitting next to him, saying it was impossible for their generation to understand this:

“You grew up in a different world,” the student said, loud enough for the whole crowd to hear. “Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, man has walked on the Moon, our spaceships have visited Mars, we even have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with light-speed processing… and, uh….”

Taking advantage of a pause in the student’s litany, the senior citizen said, “You’re right. We didn’t have those things when we were young; so we invented them, you little twit! What are *you* doing for the next generation??”

So, what are we, as librarians and educators, doing to make things better for the next generation? We can’t just use the stuff passed on to us, we need to improve on it and develop new ways of teaching and communicating. Otherwise, we’re just resting on someone else’s laurels.