Nobody sings it better than Julie Andrews…
Of course you recognize the tune from My Fair Lady. The original London cast paired Julie Andrews, as Eliza Doolittle a spirited Cockney flower girl, with Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins, an avowed bachelor and general all around curmudgeon.
Sadly, too few My Fair Lady fans realize that the musical was inspired by the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion a far more sophisticated theatrical critique of the British class system. And in turn, Shaw uses the Pygmalion myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses as his muse.
I have always liked Wouldn’t it Be Loverly and when in private I give my best attempt at imitating Eliza’s Cockney accent. The message of the song is loverly as well—a wish for a simple and secure life.
So, here’s the question… How do we guide our children to discover what is truly valuable for a happy life? seemingly simple necessities such as shelter, warmth, and food in an increasingly materialistic world?
Hi Anne, I hope your rendition of the Julie Andrews classic, in your best ‘cockney accent’ is better than Dick Van Dyke’s. Mind you it couldn’t be worse! English is a far nicer language than Cockney, although Cockney rhyming slang is colourful.
That’s a great question, probably worth more that the US national debt. We’re living a great random experiment, and we pass our experiences of life on to our children in the hope that their life will be better than ours. If we say that ours is the best path that’s fine, but others will judge what we say and do so in relation to their own views and judge accordingly, as we do them, so to that extent I don’t think you can find a ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer.
I think Maureen and I did a reasonable job, but there are certain things that we would do differently if we had the opportunity, but that’s the gift of hindsight.
We filled the house, over time, with books and music, and, of course, love, and a secure environment. Althoough many books have gone by the wayside (recycled) we still have almost 700 books throughout our home (ranging from Dickens and Shakespeare to Dawkins, Baroness Orczy, Neville Shute and John Buchan – not forgetting JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling). But although literature and music have their place engaging with children, finding out what they want, teaching them – when they are old enough, to think, and broadening their horizons. Or, you can leave it to someone else and let them watch Palin, Perry and Santorum on You Tube.
Of course the Bible is important as well, as Richard Dawkins has said, ‘You can’t understand Milton and Shakespeare if you haven’t read the Bible’. But you have to be careful. What would Santorum and Perry say if they had actually read the Bible and undestood that the Song of Solomon was a bronze age poet’s rendition of hard core porn? It’s all about sex, with, if you look carefully, graphic descriptions of both oral and anal sex.
I’ll bet Il Papa doesn’t know either. The best place to hide things is in plain sight.
Like your comments Ian. And it’s interesting how you are open to the knowledge that there’s a lot of unknowns in dragging up children ~ a modesty of opinion that the religious should emulate
Thanks Michael, I’ve always tried to use two maxims. Firstly, you can’t look at life through someone else’s eyes, and don’t criticize the way someone walks unless you have walked five miles whilst wearing their shoes.
Basically, no matter how much you hear, or read, about something you will never truly understand unless you experience it for yourself, and everyone’s experience has greater relevance for them than for others.
I learned a huge amount, not only from being a parent to my own children, but also as a Scout leader where you are acting in loco parentis to a ‘host’ of other parents children – especially if you took them camping! Once to mixed campsite with Girl Guides (although we didn’t know beforehand) ! Life sure gets interesting
).
Thank you for the comment, Ian. I always enjoy hearing from you! I had never thought about the Bible in the way you described, “Hiding things in plain sight.” Spoken like a good cop! (For those of you who don’t know Ian he is a former British police officer and has written us a great piece. Ian has given me a few more stories to publish, but I haven’t had time to get them up yet. Look for them soon!)
I do agree with you that knowledge of the Bible is absolutely essential for understanding much of the great Western literature. I used to do a lessons on the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Cyrano with my French students. Both works are replete with biblical references which make them all the more poignant and enjoyable.
Hope all is well in sunny ol’ England!
It’s been a beautiful day today and spring is just around the corner:
For my kids I gave them the best piece of advice from my life…
Find a way to make a living doing what you love then you will never really work a day of it.
(later found out this is a Confucius quote-its hard to be original after a few thousand years of smart-arses!)).
Then I encouraged them to get educated in a skill they liked.
And they are doing OK and seem happy in their lives.
After living in England for 10yrs, I can say that the words ‘sunny ol’England’ is a very rare occurrence to be cherished.
Ah yes, “a simple and secure life” ~ I’m with you there
I think the path to that is to strip away the silly tokens by which we represent our identity to the world in our fruitless attempts to gain approval from others ~ who themselves are living by the very same silly rules. The tokens change down the ages ~ today it might be the crazy notion that paying quadruple for a branded sports shoe over a plain sports shoe is a reasonable lifestyle choice. A historical example best illuminates the silliness of striving after tokens because we have the distance to allow us proper focus on the absurdities. In the Birmingham (UK) gun quarter & jewellery quarter of the 1860′s the wealthy male nobs displayed their general desirability by wearing ridiculously tall top hats (far taller than in My Fair Lady). This made it impossible to walk any reasonable distance & they would hire TWO horse cabs to get about ~ with one being for the hat.
You ask: “How do we guide our children to discover what is truly valuable for a happy life?” ~ well I dunno, but here are some of the things that might help…
** Eating: Sitting. At a table. No radio. No TV. No mobile texting. No newspapers. If a family can’t hack this twice a day then they’re messing with the ritual breaking & sharing of ‘bread’ that has bonded us since before language & tools (IMO). Every human ceremony from the marking of birth to that of death involves communal food & drink. We forget this at our peril. Now this is where I get extreme ~ if your child is involved in many after school activities, or a spouse works late a lot, then the family should make every effort to rearrange life so that there is a closure at the end of the day where the family still shares. Call me old fashioned….
** Talk to your child & listen to your child ~ make the space to allow this to happen
** A child learns by ‘aping’ & understanding comes later. This should inform your conduct.
** Love them & have them understand the value of kindness, compassion & mercy by your example
** Make ‘em laugh
You know the saying – “Start with the end in mind”. When I read your question it made me think of this perhaps as a guide for a happy life. There was a bit of research reported in many online news venues recently – “The top 5 regrets of the dying”. (e.g., at http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying). So it seemed like a way to think of what might be truly valuable for a happy life would be to start with the end in mind and perhaps try to make sure you don’t have the same regrets that others have had. Religion doesn’t feature in any of the 5 regrets but “I wish i’d stayed in touch with my friends” does. That was the one that most resonated with me.