About 60 years from now, the last of the Panther Valley Deep Coal Miners will speak to people of a different era.

That's because in 1976, the coal miners buried a time capsule inside the monument wall at Lansford Kennedy Park.I'm not sure what they put inside, but it'll be revealed in 2076.I won't be around to find out, so I'll never know what kind of messages the miners had for the future.But it got me thinking about time capsules.They're a special way for people of one era to speak directly to another.In 1999, quite a few time capsules from 1899 were opened.One of those contained a letter.In the message, the pioneers of 100 years earlier wanted to know if "man had ever invented the flying machine" and if "women had ever won the right to vote."Of course, those questions seem almost comical in 2015. Both of those achievements arrived long ago, early in the 20th century.Did you ever think about questions you'd want to ask if you were to bury a time capsule?If I were to talk to the future, say 100 years from now in 2115, this is what I'd ask:Did man finally conquer cancer? The horrible disease killed too many people much too young.Are wars still fought over religion?It's a dichotomy that some people acquire a belief in an all-loving creator and then go out and harm or kill others who don't believe exactly the same.On the other hand, churches are now closing at a surprising rate.Has mankind finally risen above some of the negative indoctrinations of religion?Did anything come of cloning? It's one of the controversies of our time.Has a human being actually been cloned?What about the long-preserved woolly mammoth taken from a frozen tundra? Has cloning allowed another woolly mammoth to be created from it? Did it survive? If so, did this event resurrect any germs or viruses from ancient history?Do people still age? Have the mysteries of eternal youth been unlocked? We realize it's silly to search for a fountain of youth as did Ponce de Leon, but we hear talk that science might solve the answer to aging by manipulating genes. Did it happen?What about the ozone layer? Some say we're depleting the protective portion of our atmosphere by using aerosol spray cans.They're also saying the world eventually will run out of fossil fuels, so we need to find alternate sources of power. Did electric cars ever come into vogue and dominate the market?What about diet? Did we do any good with our fanaticism over cholesterol levels?Is your society mostly vegetarian?Does intelligent life exist on other planets? We're still struggling with that one. We've been seeing flying saucers and UFOs for years but nobody's been able to offer absolute proof.Is your society more advanced, tolerant and progressive, or has man regressed?Do you enjoy a time of world peace?We'd like to know the answers.We live in different eras but share a common bond, the human condition.All of us try to do the best with what's been handed to us. And so we wonder how things might've turned out for you.Even more, what questions do you have for those who live 100 years ahead?