July 17, 1996

Sabiadee Ai Kongkeo & my fellow SatJahDham Friends,

	Ai Kongkoe, I'm sorry for not posting this earlier. I have been 
house sitting for my Pastor and haven't had any time.  The following are 
the things that we spoke about during my talk on "Generation Gap" during 
the conference.  Any member want to add, correct or delete 
anything I am about to write please feel free.
	Unlike  other presentation at SatJahDham First Annaul 
Conference, the talk on "Generation Gap" was an open forum.  Pam open the 
discussion with some issues that khon lao younger generation face with 
their elders.  The question of "what is this big deal about our elders 
wanting to go back to Laos?" 
	There were many valuable responses from our audience.  Chaosinh 
suggested that because "there is no place like home"  that is why our 
elder make a big deal about going back. He further suggested that the 
younger generation are their only hope of making Laos a better place.
Some members of the audience nodded with agreement.
	A questions of "what are some of the things that causes gneration gap 
between children and parents?" was also posed.  One of our attendee from 
Merced contty suggested that lack of priase (communication) among family 
members was one of the reasons.  She states that often time 
children don't share with thier parents how they feel and vice versa.  
She further suggested that we need to tell our parents that "we love 
them" and keep the communication line open.
	More similar questions were discussed. A member of the audience stated 
that generation gap is a problem of every culture.  The problem between 
our elders and our youngester has always exit. It still exit today 
and will continue to exit 10 million years from now.
	Pam summarized the discussion with a peom from "Chicken Soup for the 
Soul" by CAnfield & Hansen. The peom is title " My Father When I was..." 
written by Ann Landers.

			"My Father When I Was......."
		4 years old: My daddy can do anything.
		5 years old: My daddy knows a whole lot.
		6 years old: My dad is smarter than your dad.
		7 years old: My dad doesn't know exactly everything.
		10 years old: In the olden days when my dad grew up,
			       things were sure different.
		12 years old: Oh, well, naturally, Father doesn't know
				anything about that.  He is too old to 
				remember his childhood.
		14 years old: Don't pay any attention to my father.
				He is so old-fashioned!
  		21 years old: Him? My Lord, he's hopelessly out-of-date.
		25 years old: Dad know a little bit about it, but then he
				should because he has been around so long.
		30 years old: Maybe we should ask Dad what he thinks.  After
				all, he's had a lot of experience.
		35 years old: I'm not doing a single thing until I talk to
				Dad.
		40 years old: I wonder how Dad would have handled it.  He was
				wise and had a world of experience.
		50 years old: I'd give anything if Dad were here now so I
				could talk this over with him.  Too bad I
				didn't appricate how smart he was.  I 
				could have learned a lot from him.
 
  
Sincerly,
Pam