Boy, did this resonate with me. Briefly, I too had a difficult start. My Dad, a tenant farmer died when I was 16, owing to my lack of academic success he had recently arranged for me to be apprenticed to his two elder brothers on their farms about 80 miles away.
My equivalent to your deck scrubbing was milking 70 cows twice a day 5 days a week and only having to get up at 7 on Saturdays and Sundays for shepherding and other duties. I got one weekend a month off.
Eventually I escaped and in due course had a measure of success.
My youngest child is now 27 and hard working but both she and her peer group, at university during Covid have been inculcated so deeply with their vulnerability and their need to protect their mental health, that they have no idea what resilience is needed to cope with the hardships that are to come.
It is so hard to try and get the message across without sounding like an old man sitting at the sky.
Wow, Hugh. Yes. I think females are particularly encouraged to have a victim hood story, as well. I remember when I met a girl in her twenties, they'd always come out with one, no matter how good their life has been.
I think that's why I got really into modern country music when I lived in the States. It's the only music genre that had a lot of gratitude in it. Something I think we are deeply missing in the UK popular culture.
But it is not just the females. The culture in the UK actively encourages the feminisation of boys through skincare and beauty regimes actively promoted in the msm. It also promotes 'imaginary' vulnerability with its endless urgings to take care of their mental health. "Because you deserve it". That slogan to me has always encapsulated the whole problem.
The latest absurdity being the government planning to introduce anti-misogyny classes for the early teenage male population.
My daughter is strong minded and has never fallen into the victim trap but she suspects that this is all backfiring with the value of traditional male to female chivalry disappearing. All part of years and years of government nannying instead of encouraging independence.
With regard to your comment on country music, by a weird coincidence I happen to be in Nashville at the moment. My favourite song title is "My wife's run off with my best friend, and I miss him".
It's government busybodies, but also the democratic idea that we're all equal and the same. It's a denial of hierarchy that causes this craziness as well. People have no mental health because modernity and postmodernism are so maddening. The rejection of hierarchy denies reality itself. Therefore, you have to lie to yourself just to exist in society.
That was so interesting, Scott. The 'all must have prizes' is so corrosive to building resilience isn't it? Hard times and struggles are literally the fire which hardens the steel in our minds and bodies. It also makes us have empathy with the struggles of others. I have had my share, particularly as a child, and I have noticed that with my three adult children, the more difficulties they've had to overcome personally, the kinder they are and the more stoic. The eldest has slightly sailed through life so far and is quite impatient with the struggles of others; the middle one is kindness personified, having grappled with a lot in her 33 years; and the youngest has fought huge health issues so ferociously that he now has the determination, self-discipline and strength to run ultra-marathons and is due to run the Marathon des Sables in April. I believe his experiences have cultivated a 'never say die' grit in him that keeps him pushing through. He acknowledges that life is a mind game and whatever you endure gives you future strength - you literally bank it. He is a big fan of Nietzsche of course!
Boy, did this resonate with me. Briefly, I too had a difficult start. My Dad, a tenant farmer died when I was 16, owing to my lack of academic success he had recently arranged for me to be apprenticed to his two elder brothers on their farms about 80 miles away.
My equivalent to your deck scrubbing was milking 70 cows twice a day 5 days a week and only having to get up at 7 on Saturdays and Sundays for shepherding and other duties. I got one weekend a month off.
Eventually I escaped and in due course had a measure of success.
My youngest child is now 27 and hard working but both she and her peer group, at university during Covid have been inculcated so deeply with their vulnerability and their need to protect their mental health, that they have no idea what resilience is needed to cope with the hardships that are to come.
It is so hard to try and get the message across without sounding like an old man sitting at the sky.
Wow, Hugh. Yes. I think females are particularly encouraged to have a victim hood story, as well. I remember when I met a girl in her twenties, they'd always come out with one, no matter how good their life has been.
I think that's why I got really into modern country music when I lived in the States. It's the only music genre that had a lot of gratitude in it. Something I think we are deeply missing in the UK popular culture.
But it is not just the females. The culture in the UK actively encourages the feminisation of boys through skincare and beauty regimes actively promoted in the msm. It also promotes 'imaginary' vulnerability with its endless urgings to take care of their mental health. "Because you deserve it". That slogan to me has always encapsulated the whole problem.
The latest absurdity being the government planning to introduce anti-misogyny classes for the early teenage male population.
My daughter is strong minded and has never fallen into the victim trap but she suspects that this is all backfiring with the value of traditional male to female chivalry disappearing. All part of years and years of government nannying instead of encouraging independence.
With regard to your comment on country music, by a weird coincidence I happen to be in Nashville at the moment. My favourite song title is "My wife's run off with my best friend, and I miss him".
😂👍 Brilliant
Yes.
It's government busybodies, but also the democratic idea that we're all equal and the same. It's a denial of hierarchy that causes this craziness as well. People have no mental health because modernity and postmodernism are so maddening. The rejection of hierarchy denies reality itself. Therefore, you have to lie to yourself just to exist in society.
Recipe for disaster.
That was so interesting, Scott. The 'all must have prizes' is so corrosive to building resilience isn't it? Hard times and struggles are literally the fire which hardens the steel in our minds and bodies. It also makes us have empathy with the struggles of others. I have had my share, particularly as a child, and I have noticed that with my three adult children, the more difficulties they've had to overcome personally, the kinder they are and the more stoic. The eldest has slightly sailed through life so far and is quite impatient with the struggles of others; the middle one is kindness personified, having grappled with a lot in her 33 years; and the youngest has fought huge health issues so ferociously that he now has the determination, self-discipline and strength to run ultra-marathons and is due to run the Marathon des Sables in April. I believe his experiences have cultivated a 'never say die' grit in him that keeps him pushing through. He acknowledges that life is a mind game and whatever you endure gives you future strength - you literally bank it. He is a big fan of Nietzsche of course!
Wow. Yes, 100%. Your children sound amazing, Bettina!