“Life is full of obstacle illusions” ~ Grant Frazier
At a reunion involving a couple of my dearest friends, my friend Neil offered the opinion that a parent can do no better than to instill in a child the characteristic of GRITTINESS.
My friends and I go back nearly 50 years. We shared intense times doing really hard work on the west side of Chicago not long after the riots of 1968 that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time we felt like a band of brothers fighting in a super difficult war. But friendships conceived in grittiness possess a kind of unbreakable bond. These were the guys I counted on to have my back and as we reminisced over the years we came to the conclusion that grit was the greatest virtue of all.
Neil is now a university professor, and he observed that grit may be the best predictor of a student’s ability to succeed. Soon after we talked I came upon this Aesop Fable that illuminates this characteristic.
The Crow and the Pitcher
A crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the crow put its beak into the mouth of the pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair.
- Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher.
- Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher.
At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.
The Dorothy Lange photograph of Florence Owens captures well the look of grittiness.
Florence Owens Thompson, Dorothea Lange’s photo of a Migrant Mother (1936),
The photograph depicts a woman, mother of seven, a migrant farm worker by trade, struggling through the Great Depression one day at a time. Her faced is etched with what might be exhaustion and worry. Yet Florence Owens went on to successfully raise her children and live a good life until the day she died in 1981. “I worked in hospitals, I tended bar, I cooked, I worked in the fields, I done a little bit of everything to make a living for my kids.”
Who knows what was her IQ or her EQ, but her GQ (grittiness quotient) was off the charts.
So it could be argued that parents who shelter their children from gritty experiences are doing them a disservice. For without these lessons they will be rendered helpless when the dump truck of misfortune makes a delivery at their door step.
The truth is:
The next time you find yourself having to persevere through a difficult challenge, take a moment to be grateful for the opportunity to cultivate the virtue of grit. It will serve you well.
Just a Thought…
Pat
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Copyright © 2016 Patrick J. Moriarty. All Rights Reserved.