Planting a new seed

One of my readers wrote this in response to my post The gift of music. "My daughter is 16 and part of the MP3 generation. I am trying, and gave her 16 CDs for Christmas, all of her favorite music. She promptly loaded them on to her phone. Yet when I play them on my system she is captivated, but not enough to overcome the convenience of having the music on her phone. I fear that we are fighting to losing rear-guard action, but I will go down fighting." Bravo and don't give up. It is not a losing rear-guard action at all. 16 year olds are in a hurry. 16 year olds don't have time for anything other than figuring out where they fit in. But they are hungry for what we give them. They will need it later. By exposing the daughter to new music and captivating her interests in better sound, if only for a moment, plants a seed that will blossom in its time. Like Johnny Appleseed, we Audiophiles need to plant as many seeds as we can and then nurture those seeds if possible. But even without nurturing, planted seeds will many times grow into wonderful new trees. Take heart. When the daughter is in her thirties and gets another opportunity to appreciate the better performance of a great system it will be as if a lightbulb turned on in her head. Planting a new seed is the only way a tree grows. But it takes patience, love and nurturing. You're giving her both.