There are some things in this world you can only learn by hard work. Where do you learn to work hard? I think it is a combination of things: work ethic, desire, need, and maybe some more.
I learned my work ethic from the need and desire to accomplish things that werent getting done by overwhelmed parents. I learned to carry through from my piano teacher. I learned to finish projects from school teachers. Not all were fun. Not many were of my choosing. Some motivation was personal, some was by prod or reward. My husband learned from a desire to make things better. He learned from the necessities of poverty. He learned to depend upon himself for motivation.
My children learned their work ethic from their parents. With a family growing larger every few years, there were always things to be washed, picked up, and made better. With hungry mouths to feed came a garden that enlarged a few feet every year. Each growing foot of garden produced more weeds. Those weeds needed to be removed. Those children learned to weed to the end of the row. They learned to clean, wash, pick up and make better till the job was done. They complained. They procrastinated. They unwillingly obeyed. And now, they praise their parents for having had these experiences. Hopefully they are passing these lessons learned on to their children.
I just recentlly came across a Desert News article about work ethic/children, and I would like to share a piece of it. If I had memorizing skills intact, I would memorize it. This is a poem by Douglas Malloch:
" Bill Brown made a million,
Bill Brown, think of that!
A boy, you remember, as poor as a rat.
Who hoed for the neighbors, did jobs by the day,
Well Bill's made a million, or near it, they say.
You cant understand it, well neither could I.
And then I remembered, and now I know why.
The bell might be ringing, the dinner horn blow,
But Bill always hoed to the end of the row."
2 comments:
What were your parents overwhelmed with? Not wanting to point fingers or question your perspective, just curious what they did. Your dad worked 9-5ish, like all dads. Your mom, president of garden club. But they had help in the cleaning lady. I'm sure the twins gave your mom a lot to do for a while, but Dad's in those days didn't do much with babies, so what did he do?
He repaired things, spent a lot of time in remodeling the kitchen and bathroom, worked in the flower patches, read his magazines, watched tv, smoked and smoked, took care of the car maintenance...went fishing and hunting. Accompanied Mother to social events, but not very often. I think they were both depressed and not. very happy with each other. That caused stress. Having raised one child toward independence, getting pregnant again and raising her toward independence, and then again a third time was disappointing. They probably planned and looked forward to the time when they would have the kids raised and out and they would still be young enough to have some fun. I think they gave up on that notion when they realized how old they would be when the last babies were out of the nest. It was like imprisonment in a way because they didn't have the eternal aspect we have. Mother was into many clubs: church, bridge clubs (plural), garden club, art club, Eastern Star. Daddy joked about her being a "joiner". He was active in the Masonic Order. The cleaning lady was just for a year in 1944, a few weeks in 1950's. Then I took over the ironing and vacuuming.
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