It behoved me to get my
mother’s opinion on Emerson’s so I took my book along for our New Year’s Day
feast with the happy hope of intellectual conversation Abildgaard style. Here’s what transpired.
Mother again told the story of the Gajol licorice. Then we wrestled with Trivial Pursuit,
watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes, discussed fashion and education and
surrendered to a turkey dinner! I got
home to review my Facebook page and was told “enough Emerson and more
Abildgaard”. Oh dear, what to do? It
seems that people enjoy hearing about the fallibleness of others rather than
ideas or philosophies so I will succumb!
(mind you I am already starting on Walden by Thoreau so be prepared for
a dose now and again).
When we were kids we had a lot of family nights when we
would watch television with our parents.
I remember when “Bewitched” premiered on Monday nights. We all loved Samantha the witch and my
parents enjoyed the show as much as we did.
I wonder how many people today watch television with their children, and
just what are they watching that is relatively harmless these days? Saturday nights we had special back to back
shows. First we would watch “Lost in
Space” and then would come “The Wild, Wild West” and while we sprawled on the
floor we would also want to stay close to our mother in her chair as she was in
charge of the treats. When we didn’t
have candy to be shared Mom would sit with a bowl of apples beside her and peel
them one by one, and then hand us slices of the apple with the edge of her
knife. We loved eating apples this
way. My dad would lay on the floor with
us, his head propped up on my mother’s chair (it wasn’t that we didn’t have a
second chair or a sofa, Dad just enjoyed being stretched on the floor with us).
When we were growing up we stayed home 99% of the
time. I can probably count on one hand
the amount of times my parents went “out” throughout my childhood. If they went to visit Kaj og Signe then we
went with them and vice versa, their kids would come with them when they
visited our house. I don’t think my
parents went to a company Christmas party until I was a teenager – and by that
I mean when I was 16 years old! If they
went to a movie they would go to a drive-in and we kids would be with them.
I asked my mother if her parents ever went anywhere
without each other and she said no, her parents would go to a Saturday or
Sunday movie – together. They would walk
downtown together to the movie house and return home for their afternoon or
evening coffee. That was high living
back in the ‘40’s. I asked her if she
thought any of her uncles had ever had an affair and she was shocked that I
would even ask that question. She said
her uncles were like her own father and such a thing would absolutely, never,
ever have happened. Then she recollected
how her dad and his brother would spend an afternoon. On one occasion in particular they were out
in the rowboat “enjoying” a political discussion along with their nephew (who
was close to my grandfather in age) when Mom (standing on the beach) saw her
dad dive into the water. He had become
so excited in his discussion that he lost his teeth and had to go in after
them. That was their idea of a good
time!
What does this have to do with Emerson? Nothing at all, but it is a precursor to
Thoreau and his time on Walden Pond.
When I hear people talk about what they did with their children on the
weekend I wonder “why?” It seems out of
this world to me that thousands of people take their kids to one hockey game
after another; and then they take them to malls to “shop” and then they go to
MacDonalds to eat and I wonder “why do you live in such a big house when you
are never home?”
Are we not comfortable in our own homes, with our own
thoughts, with the relatively simple things in life? Don’t people know how to talk to their
children, or their spouse?
So maybe referencing philosophy is kind of important
after all in finding out who we really are inside?
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