Right now our family readaloud is the Little House series of books. It’s the first time for me—I never even saw the TV series—and I have to say that I’m delighted with it. I was surprised to discover how much the books focus on the practical aspects of frontier life. And I’m continually astonished at what Pa Ingalls is capable of doing. Like Ralph Moody’s father in the book Little Britches, he is a man who knows how to provide for his family both materially and spiritually, not hiring out any of that responsibility. And like Ralph Moody’s father, I think that Pa Ingalls is no superman, but merely a good and admirable man, one who met and occasionally surpassed the standard for good men that was current in pre-industrial society.
Nowadays we would think that such competence must be guided by a system—nine principles, eight guidelines, seven habits. But I don’t think these men were guided by any system as such, but by attitudes that were shaped by experience and training and the wisdom of generations past. They behaved responsibly, they worked diligently, they faced unfamiliar and unexpected situations thoughtfully and confidently, not because pragmatism told them that such behavior was effective, but because wisdom told them that this was how men behaved. They simply behaved as they thought a man should behave, and knew that this would be sufficient to any situation.
In the following series of posts, I won’t be offering clever techniques for getting a job done more efficiently, or ways to trick yourself into developing effective habits. Instead, I will be looking at a few areas where it seems to me that people are often crippled by a wrong attitude, areas where a right attitude can make all the difference in being able to do what needs to be done. As usual, these posts will not be proclamations of the One Right Way, but rather notes to myself and my children, notes about strengths and failings that I have seen in others and in myself over the years. You’re welcome to look over my shoulder as I write them down.
