An Open Letter to My Grandchildren©

Dear Ones,

It has been my habit the past two years to write you an open letter of advice.  This year’s letter is very short, but it is also very, very important.  It consists of one quotation.  It is from the father of our country, George Washington, who was a very wise man.  He was writing to a young person like you. I urge you to think and pray about what he said and try to live up to it in your life, because it is even more true today than it was when he said it many years ago. He is trying to help you understand how you live as a young person will influence your entire life.

Good moral character is the first essential in a man [and woman], and that the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life.  It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.(1)

I love you,

Grandpa Bachman

Vocabulary helps:

moral = living by principles of right and wrong

character = traits of your personality

essential = something necessary, vital or required

contracted = developed, made, acquired

indelible = something that lasts or is permanent, that does not fade

stamp = impress, alter, change, effect

endeavor = work, try, 

learned = become knowledgeable

virtuous = live a good moral life 

Notes: 

1.  George Washington, in Gordon Leidner, ed., The Founding Fathers: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches (Naperville, IL: Cumberland House, 2013), p. 88.