RIVER CITY JOURNAL: WRITING FOR FUTURE HISTORIANS IS TOUGHER THAN YOU THINK

There's a little voice that tells me this column is for posterity.

"Just imagine," the little voice says, "that someone is compiling a history of the universe a couple of hundred years from now."

So where do I fit in?

"Big role. As big as Charlton Heston playing God."

I can't imagine anyone caring about my weekly musings 10 years from now, much less a couple of centuries.

"Look: Do what you want. But if you want to be a part of history, craft your words carefully."

You mean take more than the usual half-hour I set aside for writing my column.

"Exactly. Take some time. Do it right."

Then the little voice trailed off like a bad phone connection.

I'm not big on little voices. However, I believe in my writing muse. After hearing the little voice, I wondered if it was related to my muse.

Then I got my Time magazine in the mail, the one with the person of the century, my old buddy Al Einstein, on the cover. There were a bunch of articles about Al and his contributions to the world of science. I couldn't even pretend to understand much of it.

One of the articles was by Stephen Hawking, the world's best-known and probably best physicist. I'm in no position to judge his credentials, because the subject of physics is like an opposite force to me: Whenever I see physics headed my way, I go the opposite direction.

I read a book by Hawking once. At least I tried to read it. It was called "A Brief History of Time." I thought the book was going to be about watches and grandfather clocks. I have a fascination for timepieces. But that's not what the book was about. I think it was about physics.

As a result, I didn't learn a thing from Hawking's efforts to inform me.

But his article in Time about my pal Al's theory of relativity was one of the clearest pieces of writing I've come across in a long time. Don't get me wrong. I still don't understand relativity well enough to explain it to my wife. But I can't explain the VCR to my wife either mainly because I don't understand VCRs any better than physics.

But when I got finished reading Hawking's brief essay on relativity, one of the things I understood was this: Because of relativity, it may be theoretically possible to go to the future or to the past.

If I had to choose, I'd go back. Other folks might want to take a trip today to tomorrow. That's OK.

I don't think I'll ever get to go much farther than St. Louis or Memphis, though, and I've already discovered you can do some time traveling in either city without much trouble.

But down the road, someone like Hawking or one of his colleagues might actually find a way to travel back and forth in time. I can't imagine giving advice to people who live in a time that hasn't yet happened as far as I'm concerned, relatively speaking. But I do have a few pearls for folks in the past, if they want to know.

So here's some advice for my friends somewhere in yesteryear:

Stand up straight. You're mother isn't kidding when she says you'll have funny-looking shoulders if you keep slouching.

And here's something else: Eat your vegetables. You won't know this until it's too late, but your mother is right on just about every subject. Trust me.

OK. Here's a good one: Hug your family. Spouses, sons, daughters whoever's handy. Just hug. Sullivan menfolk have been genetically predisposed to nodding for about nine generations now. Maybe if you fellows back there in the past hug each other, it will pass down from generation to generation. It's certainly worth a try.

If you're still in school and someone suggests you ought to take chemistry and biology and, yes, physics, do it. No, I can't honestly say you'll use what you learn every day of your life. But you will think differently about the world around you. And you will discover ways to find information that somehow always remains just a little bit beyond your grasp if you avoid science. And math too. I know. I know. But that's another truth you will learn much too late in life: Most teachers know what they're doing.

I have a bunch of other gems of wisdom, but you've already got a lot to chew on. Let me leave you with this:

No matter where you are in life, go on a quest. Search for ideals. Grab hold of love, honor, charity and compassion. Cherish goodness. Learn the difference between right and wrong. Tell the truth. Seek justice. Practice humility. Discover a cure for deadly diseases.

And never forget to stand up straight and eat your vegetables.

Is this too much to ask?

By the way, if you folks in the future ever glance this way, all of these words are for you too.

~R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.