Look at that

I noticed that the kids didn’t look out the windows unless the adults said “look at that on the left”. We drove twice this weekend thru the beautiful hill country of Texas and each direction had something new to admire. I saw long horn cattle with a 6’ spread, llamas, a herd of miniature horses, emus, several different kinds of goats, thorough bred horses, odd hill humps that looked out of place, rocky landscape that could have been the surface of the moon, fields of cactus, patches of wild flowers and blue bonnets, rivers and streams and much more. I had to be careful to stay in my own lane as I gawked and drove.

On the way there the three girls (11, 12, and 16 yrs old) sang along to the radio and cds, chatted with each other, played with the dog and gameboy and repeatedly asked me “how much longer?” On the way back they slept and I mean they were almost instantly asleep. We got home and they said “Did we stop for lunch?” I wanted to tell them we stopped and left them in the car sleeping while we went inside and dined without them.

What is it about young people that they don’t notice what’s happening around them? Are they so focused on themselves that they can’t enjoy the journey? Was I the same way? If not, is this a generational gap? Is it because they have been over-loaded with gadgets and games and TV that looking out the window just isn’t interesting any longer. Or is this just a phase we all go thru as we grow up? Were there children in covered wagons not looking at the scenery, moaning “How much farther?”