I see old folks like me from time to time, complaining that schools don’t teach handwriting now. Not something I’ve lost sleep over. I’m sure kids learn to type sooner than we did.

But I am curious if my handwriting has become a secret code? Cuz most people I know tell me it’s totally unreadable. I don’t think it’s that bad, but I’m used to it.

When I was a reporter people would see my notes and go, “Ah, you know shorthand!”

Hell no. I tried to learn it once and gave up.

I had to take a lot of notes and I had to do it fast, at football games, city council meetings, interviews, press conferences. I didn’t have time to worry about penmanship.

It’s just messy messy scribbles and on the fly abbreviations, a note-taking habit I picked up in college. What I do works for me, but I did realize how it could get me in trouble if I went showing my reporter’s notes around.

One night I’m covering a high school football game from the stands in a packed stadium, people all around me. Not sure why I wasn’t on the sidelines, like usual.

Anyway, I look down at my notebook and I see. “Beat Off 4 p.m.” I had an interview that afternoon. It was an abbreviation for “Be at the office at 4 p.m.” Luckily nobody saw. I didn’t know how I was going to explain that.

I’m a crotchety old man now. That’s when you’re supposed to complain about stuff. But I don’t get complaining about “things the new generation does wrong.” Sometimes they do drive me nuts, but they’re getting older and we’re getting old.

It’s fixing to be Gen Z’s decision whether or not anyone cares about penmanship. And a whole lot of other things besides.