I reread - at light speed - These Happy Golden Years yesterday. For the millionth time. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but I almost know whole passages by heart, certainly the dialogue. And while that whole Laura series is idealized and stripped to the bone, there is a lovely purity of purpose in them. Life was tough, but the people were tougher. Those pioneers endured momentous challenges, as in life and death challenges, not alas- alack- I'm-caught-in-traffic-and-will-be-late-for-work challenges. Look at yourself, your children, your friends, your neighbors - pick out the ones you think could have made it, living on an undeveloped parcel of land for five years, in a shack, amid extreme weather conditions and no conveniences, in order to claim it.
Sobering.
And yet, I look back at my primary family I feel that my parents tried to instill the basic civilized rules in us as Pa and Ma did for Laura way back in the late 1800's. Hopefully as life gets easier and easier, the tenets of goodness are still rising to the surface.
But that pesky self-indulgence is sure making it tough!
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