"Letters to Ethan"
Video: Create Your Legacy McQueen's new book, Letters to Ethan: A Grandfather's Legacy of Life and Love is a collection of the letters he wrote to his young grandson sharing lessons on life's highs and lows from love and friendship to death and conflict.
Grandparents are often the quiet leaders of a family, offering their years of life experience to guide younger generations. Tom McQueen, licensed marriage and family therapist and president of the American Family Foundation, wanted his grandson to have something tangible, especially in this digital age, to remember the wisdom only a grandparent can provide. So he began by writing "Dear Ethan."
"We live in an era where technology has taken us away from relationships and family," McQueen says. "My goal with Letters to Ethan is to encourage people to return to spending time with their families and developing those relationships."
Growing up, McQueen knew the love and support of his maternal grandparents who lived with his family, but longed to know his paternal grandparents who died before he was born. Wishing they had left behind a record of their lives, McQueen was inspired to write letters to his son and grandson, which led him to launch the Legacy Nation campaign. Encouraging others to share wisdom through letters, parents and grandparents can upload their own letters on the Legacy Nation campaign website, which McQueen will use in presentations across the country in 2011. The Legacy Nation website will also offer visitors enrollment in the Child Protection Technology Team, which will provide technology to reduce the incidents of child abductions and exploitation. With endorsements from ESPN's Dick Vitale and legendary coach Lou Holtz as well as a forward by RudyRuettiger of the classic film "Rudy," Letters to Ethan and McQueen's Legacy Nation campaign encouragesparents and grandparents to teach their children essential life lessons through letters. "I made Ethan a promise in my heart that I would become the very best grandfather I was capable of becoming," McQueen says. "I am committed to sharing with him the lessons that have shaped my journey hereon Earth with the hope he will someday find the insights meaningful in his own life."