The Race We Never Meant to Start

Years ago, I’d kneel beside my children’s beds, reading that old fable we all know the turtle and the rabbit. "Slow and steady wins the race." Their eyelids would grow heavy, their breathing deep… and the moment they drifted off?  I’d reach for my mobile.

I didn’t know.

I didn’t know that inside this smooth glass were minerals dug from war zones, I didn’t know that my bedtime ritual was built on others’ nightmares. I didn’t know that every midnight scroll, trained machines to replace wonder with distraction, and to trade compassion for clicks.

My kids… I owe you an apology.The world we’re handing you isn’t the one I dreamed of when I was young.

The race that matters now? It’s not between turtles and rabbits. It’s between:

The AI Gold Rush, where trillion-dollar companies race to outsmart each other, burning forests to fuel servers and the Race Against Climate Change, your fight to keep this planet alive, to remember what “human” even means. 

So today, I’m not just writing you a story. I’m handing you a question: What will you do with our mess?

Will you settle for a world where?

·         Truth is whatever keeps you scrolling?

·         Where Popularity means being the loudest, not the kindest?

·         Where Love gets reduced to heart emojis?

With the way we raised you up, please:

·         Question what’s designed to addict you.

·         Demand tech that heals instead of hijacks.

·         Protect the sacred things: a held hand, a poem that cracks you open. 

This aching, beautiful world that is in real need of empathy, good manners, love, art, and accepting differences, because somewhere along the way, we’ve traded depth for distraction, kindness for clout, and wisdom for viral stupidity.

That future we failed to give you? You get to create it instead.

So go write love letters with your life and show us how it’s done.

May the Threads for Life, especially the yellow thread, be your compass to carry you into a future that shines with wisdom, even in our absence.

With all the love in the world.

Dad