Page 49 - Life Legacy Project

A Moment Between Two Generations Earl Kari
A heart filled adventure was what I thought of when Earl Kari explained his life story to me. We sat in his living room looking outside the windows, it was raining out and the trees blew slightly in the wind. The reason why I nominated Earl Kari was because ever since I have been little he has been there for me and helped my family out. Also, I was curious about his life experiences and wanted to learn more.
Earl grew up in Aberdeen, Washington. The town was known for commercial fishing, the population was only 200.
“So what was your earliest memory?” I asked Earl.
“Oh wow, all I remember was waking up and seeing a fire down the road from my house. At first, I thought it was my grandparent's house. I was just 4 years old,” he stated. While Earl talked, I looked up at him and saw that he was looking off into the distance trying to really remember what his childhood was like. Earl’s dreams and goals were not like others when he was young, he didn’t actually know what he wanted to do, all he knew was that he wanted to go commercial fishing with his father.
“How did you decide what you wanted to do with your life? How do you feel about that choice?” I looked up from my paper curiously.
“My dream job while I was in high school was to become an oceanographer, but then I found out that there are no jobs for that,” Earl smiled at me with cheerful eyes. “But I went to college and became a civil engineer. I was actually the first person in my family to go to college!” Earl told me that all of his jobs had been directed towards water pollution and being outside. He never wanted to work behind a desk, his dream was to always be out on the field. I smiled at him when he said that he wanted to work outside because that is my dream too.
“Did you have any kids and if so what was the best part about being a parent?” I asked Earl.
“I was actually married twice during my first marriage I had 4 kids, and during my second marriage, I had 2 kids. I am still married to my second wife to this day. But the best part about being a father was to be able to play with my kids and watch them grow up and then being able to play with my grandchildren. Let me tell you one thing when you have kids, try to spend as much time with them as possible because I regret not spending enough time with my kids and moving them around too much, one of my kids went to 3 different high schools.” I nodded making a mental note to spend time with family.
“If you had one wish what would it be and if you had to give one piece of advice to my generation what would it be?” “Mmm... I would have to wish for the world to be peaceful and for everyone to have prosperity and to be happy. I don’t like seeing so much hate and wars in our world right now. All I hope for is for everyone to be happy and to feel safe. The one piece of advice for your generation would be to get an education because let me tell you one thing education is everything in the world. Jobs now a day have huge competition and the only way you will be able to win the competition is if you have the highest amount of education. Another piece of advice is to apply yourself to everything, to take all the chances in the world, and when you do apply yourself to that activity or project to put maximum effort in and do the best that you can. It doesn’t matter if you are the best at something it just matters if you try your hardest. The final piece of advice is to become good at technology because technology is a big factor in our world right now. That is my piece of advice to you and your generation.” Earl smiled at me, his eyes full of powerful wisdom.
It had started to rain even harder now and all of my questions had been answered. I looked down at my paper and finished writing down the last of his answers. This interview wasn’t just some homework I had to do, it was a way of communicating between two generations and every moment of it was powerful and made me realize that everyone has a story to tell or to live no matter what their age or generation.
By Grace Dalton
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