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Friends and sometimes even strangers send me e-mails with cartoons, jokes, photo essays, political rants.  Usually, they are forwarding something they have received from somebody else or churned up surfing the internet and clicked where it says “Share.”   Sometimes not.

Dear Cotter Pen:

You used to write under the pen-name of Paw Paw Bill, so I assume you have grandchildren.  Also, you seem to be someone who has an opinion about everything.

My grand-daughter is 16.  Going on 30, as you might say.  She is gorgeous.  A long-time buddy of her daddy’s says she looks just like her father but with tits.  I believe this is the same one of her daddy’s friends who’s gift for words did not keep his wife from going line-dancing one night and never coming back. 

Anyway, my grand-daughter, who is a sweet girl and a good student, as I am sure so are all her friends, posts on Facebook, Twitter, My Space, and  probably other websites I have never heard of, since I am just a grandpa from the old school.  She, as well as all her friends, who I am sure are sweet girls and good students, post photos of themselves on these websites…excuse me, I am trying hard to not be an old fuddyduddy… In my youth, these photos would have been categorized as “cheesecake.” 

Where do they learn these things?  Is nobody watching after them but the perverts and predators?  Do you think my grand-daughter and all her friends who are sweet girls and good students are in any danger?

Signed,

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Dear Click Here to Share:

As a fellow grandfather and old fuddyduddy, nonetheless, I must ask you, have you seen any movies, television, music videos, magazines lately?  What do you expect from your grandchildren?  Are your grandchildren in any more danger than the rest of us? 

My niece recently sent me an old photo of her aunt, my sister, at about the same age as your grand-daughter.  The year was certainly in the mid 1950’s.  In the photo, my sister and one of her friends, both of whom were sweet girls and good students, are posed in what appear to be “shortie nightgowns,” if I remember the terminology correctly.  In those days, public figures against which teenage girls measured themselves included Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, and Sophia Loren, famously photographed.  My sister lived to be over age 70, a very conservative suburban housewife and author of approximately 30 romance novels in which nothing ever happened more scandalous than could be quoted from the pulpit.