Independently Speaking

05/29/2026

05/29/2026

Another grandchild graduated from high school.

We should be old hands at this. The first one graduated last year, but I'm afraid we're never going to be particularly good at letting go and sending them off with a smile.

I mean, we'll do it, but we won't really mean it.

Number Two was our first grandchild; her older sister and younger brother came to us a couple years later. She didn't acquire her number until I wanted to write about my grandchildren without putting their personal information out on the internet. She's always lobbied to be Number One, and she does have a solid point, but I like keeping things simple.

When the adoption agency sent the very first photo, our daughter was at work and couldn't open the attachment. She forwarded it to my wife, who was able to open it, and the first thing she saw was the most beautiful child in the universe.

You might think I'm exaggerating, but a few months after she arrived, my opinion was confirmed. I had given a speech in Michigan and afterward was making idle conversation with a guy at my table. He asked what was new in my life and I told him I had the most beautiful grandchild in the world. He was a grandfather too, of a little boy, and he disagreed. I reached into my briefcase and pulled out the small photo album that is still there. If you've ever watched a movie where there's a guy playing poker and in the climax he lays down a Royal Flush and rakes in the pot of chips...that's the expression I had on my face as I handed over the photo. The guy took a close look and said, “Okay, you have the most beautiful grandchild in the world, female division.” Pride and honesty were both satisfied.

How pretty she is, quite honestly, is the least important thing about her. When her brother and sister arrived, she went from being Queen of the Universe to the middle child, literally overnight. I thought that might cause problems, but as near as I can tell, she handled it like a champ. I can't remember her ever doing or saying something mean about anyone. She brings sparkle into every room she enters and always has. She’s the first person to call me Papa. She was only about two, so I don’t think she was that much of a Hemingway fan, so I think she had other reasons for the title. From a purely selfish point of view, it's a lot to lose, to send her off into the world.



Of course, she's not going that far away. Instead of being at our house every weekend or at her home a half hour away, she'll be at a college two hours away down a straight road. Instead of seeing her every week we’ll probably see her once every month or so, and that’s making us feel a little bereft.

Remember, this is happening on Memorial Day weekend, when we talk about young people who went off to war, and didn't come back for years, or ever.

Sometimes I think perspective is a challenging concept. I lead such a good life, by so many standards. My health is good, I have a wife I love, three children who are good people who all do work that matters, five entrancing grandchildren. I've always lived where I want to live, and I've always done what I want to do. There are clouds on my horizon but I don’t know how you live seven decades without those. I also don't know where that ranks me among humanity, but I'm guessing right up there among the most fortunate. A hedge fund trader in a thirty-million-dollar penthouse in New York would no doubt disagree, but they would be shocked at how indifferent I am to their opinion. So, the fact that as the years go by we'll see less of our wonderful grandchildren as they go out in the world and make a place for themselves is a little troubling, but comparatively speaking, we've got it great.

So, get out there, baby. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Copyright 2026 Brent Olson

05/22/2026

A few days ago I was walking past Lake Elizabeth, thinking about Milton Friedman.

Like you do...

Lake Elizabeth is kind of a grandiose name for what it really is, which is just a hole in the ground in the corner of our grove. It came about several decades ago. When I still farmed, there was a row of grain bins on the south edge of our building site. We started to hauling grain with semi trucks, and I wanted a circular driveway in order to avoid the need to back up to load and unload. Adding a driveway meant we had to get dirt from someplace and our youngest daughter suggested we build a pond for swimming and other recreational activities. It was a great idea, so instead of just a hole, we had the contractor gently slope one side and after the driveway was built, we had a load of washed sand hauled in to make a beach. Then we named it after the person who had the idea in the first place. It was big fun for a couple years, until some leeches showed up, probably carried in as eggs on a duck's foot. That cut down on the swimming use, but it's still very poplar with wildlife, and it's a lovely place to sit and contemplate the state of the universe.

Where does Milton Friedman come in? He's the famous economist who in 1970 wrote an editorial for the New York Times wherein he stated that the only purpose of a corporation was to provide value for the shareholders. His point was that corporations should just focus on business, not doing charity work or improving the world. Now, Milt was a smart guy, but there were a couple of problems with his theory. First, thousands of greedy and unprincipled people latched onto his essay as an excuse to be selfish. As in, it's a dog eat dog world and all you should do is focus on what works for you and the rest of the world is on its own.

Second, and I’ll put this as tactfully as I can, he was wrong. It's actually not that hard to do two things at once. It just takes a little thought, and the ability to be flexible. Lake Elizabeth is one example, but on the north side of our farm is another. A few decades ago, I wanted to put a strip of prairie grass and a couple rows of trees on the edge of our slough, the body of water the plat books now call Olson Lake. The local soil conservation district was eager to help with the project, because a lot more trees are being cut down than are being planted. My one requirement made them a little tired. I thought instead of the generic shrubs and ash trees to stop erosion, the two rows should all consist of plants that animals could eat. So, black walnut, oak, highbush cranberries, plums - just as big a variety as would work for our climate. I admit it was a little bit of a bother. I pulled the tree planter, a little device that dug a trench and had two people sitting in it to feed the saplings down into the groove. Instead of planting a mile of one variety and then turning around and planting a mile of something else, the tree planters had to keep switching back and forth. And, in all honesty, it looks a little goofy in the spring. Instead of a predictable mile of blossoms, there's a hodge-podge of different colored blooms at different times. But the wild variety slows the wind and stops erosion just as well as something that looks more organized and I love walking along it in the winter and seeing the vast assortment of animal tracks browsing at the buffet.

I was thinking about Lake Elizabeth while listening to an argument about land for solar farms. People hate seeing good land go for solar farms, and I can understand that. However, if solar panels are raised just a little bit, they make fine shade for pastureland. The people running the solar businesses probably all went to business school, and probably studied Milton Friedman, and maybe don’t realize that with a little less tunnel vision they could do several things at once, and make at least as much money, with fewer people made at them.

I could give a dozen other examples, but you get my point.

The grain bins are long gone. We have an orchard there now. The second driveway is still in use, although strictly speaking we don't need it. Lake Elizabeth though? That's still flourishing. Don't get tunnel vision, folks. Milt was wrong. It is possible to do more than one thing at a time, to make things better AND make a living.



Copyright 2026 Brent Olson

05/20/2026

Our son just bought a new Jeep. I wonder if they still do this?