The Golden Thread of the Pioneers
The pioneers lived like heroes. We should buy the mythic narrative about them. Yet their greatness was not that they were always great.
The original G. and his wife separated for a time. She went back to the old country. Later, like a heroine, she repented and returned. The line of descent goes on like that. They did some dodgy things. Some were better than others. There is another divorce, some violence, some dudgeon, a rumored affair, inactivity in the Church and drinking and smoking, a little soap opera flavor here and there. Not always. But here and there.
See our pioneer heritage like a rope. It is frayed and old. Some fibers have snapped. But throughout it all runs a shining golden thread. The more you hang on to the end of the rope, the brighter and stronger becomes the thread.
Bookslinger
July 21, 2020
” The more you hang on to the end of the rope, the brighter and stronger becomes the thread.”
Especially with each generation. If you raise two children who stay woven into the rope/thread, then you have succeeded — mission-accomplished. If you can raise three or more children who stay woven in, then you have succeeded exceedingly, “sobresaliente.”
Meg, over at Millennial Star, has often mentioned an “oblative layer” in the church. The loss of that layer (or individual fiber in your analogy) is not necessarily a failure — it “took the hit” and thereby protected the inner layers/fibers.
E.C.
July 21, 2020
The problem is balancing the narrative of ‘they were great men/women’ with ‘they were also human and made mistakes’.
@ Books,
And sometimes, the frayed strands get spliced back in; I have a brother who came back – to our family and the church – after many years estranged.