By Merlin Lessler —<\/p>\n
My friend Wesley came laughing into our coffee klatch the other morning. He had been in a store where his purchases came to $10.06. He gave the teenage clerk a twenty-dollar bill, a nickel, and a penny. A puzzled look crossed her face. She froze, as though in a catatonic state. After a few seconds, she snapped out of it, fumbled in the cash register drawer, and handed him a five-dollar bill, four ones, three quarters, a dime, a nickel, and four pennies, and left the six cents Wesley had originally handed her on the counter. <\/span><\/p>\n I guess this shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. Kids grow up today with a series of electronic devices doing a lot of thinking for them. My generation is \u201cDevice Stupid.\u201d We struggle to use them. We call their generation \u201cCommon Sense Stupid.\u201d It\u2019s important for us to mix with each other. We can both learn to be less stupid. <\/span><\/p>\n When I swim laps in the YMCA pool, I count lengths by reciting, \u201cOne, two, buckle my shoe, three, four, shut the door,\u201d on and on with the counting rhyme. When I finish with, \u201cNine, ten, the big fat hen,\u201d I switch from the crawl stroke to the backstroke. I do this over and over for about thirty minutes. <\/span><\/p>\n