Column for Feb. 25, 2010

I have thought of my grandmother a lot today. Grammy LaPlante was born in 1908 in New Hampshire to a French Canadian immigrant family from the Province of Quebec. She was the descendant of both a King's Daughter and a Soldier of the Carignan Regiment, which I never knew (or heard of) until recently. For years I never knew much of my heritage past my paternal grandparents until I started investigating a bit. It turns out that being a descendant as well, I am eligible for membership in some elite genealogical society, "La Societe des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan". OK, who knew?

Beatrice (Grammy) helped raise five children during the Great Depression. She was a frugal lady who grew her own blueberries, raspberries, a few fruit trees, and a huge garden. She did a tremendous amount of baking, canning, and cooking. I spent my childhood working in the garden, mowing the huge lawn at my grandparents' home, playing in their barn, and the like. They also had various farm animals on their land from time to time.

One of the things I remember about my grandparents was that they worked hard. My grandfather was in construction and even built the house I remember so fondly. Grammy worked the mornings at home taking care of five children then worked as a seamstress in a textile factory during the day. I heard stories of neighbors seeing her up until very late hours at night ironing clothing so that her children would look presentable. She even ironed underwear I am told though I never understood the point. The bottom line is that she worked harder than anyone I knew. My grandparents made a living during the greatest depression our country had known.

I learned a few values from my grandparents. I will admit that some of them have sustained and some not so much. The concept of reliance upon self and family has stuck. This is a core value that made America great. That concept is out the window, so to speak, with a huge number of people today.

Just today some unemployed, obtuse brute ran across one of my old columns on the internet. He took pride in the fact that he is making a good living sitting at home, playing video games, and living off the government monthly checks he gets rather than being forced to find a job. He literally thought himself entitled to do so, citing that he had five years work experience and paid taxes those five years, thus allowing others to sponge off the system. Since he did his part, he claims that he deserves the benefit of having others pay their taxes for him to live for a while.

Five years work experience? I have socks and underwear in my drawer more than five years old. I can probably even find some condiments in my pantry more than five years old. The more I discussed self-reliance, Biblical principles such as "if any would not work, neither should he eat", and stressed the poor ethics of the entitlement mentality, the more he employed self-justification and excuses for his slackness. I was even cussed out at the end of the conversation. I was told how evil Republicans are and how I must be one (actually I am not one), and how horrible it is that I can not fathom in hard times some money to someone like him while he bragged about eating twenty dollar steaks while on government welfare.

I must admit that it is more than self-reliance for me, it is reliance on the grace and provision of God in my life. Ever since I decided to live according to grace, my supply has been constant and sufficient. Yet these same principles are not exclusive to Christianity. Billions of people work hard and have their needs met yet do not have faith in Christ. Thus the principle is transcendent to the secular world, as well.

I chose a very different career path than my grandmother or grandfather. Then again, my path has been very different from all my family. However, I am no stranger to hard work. In times past I have taken minimum wage jobs and multiple jobs at a time to not even "make ends meet".

I am thankful for my job, my family, and the heritage passed on to me by my grandmother and parents. I look forward to sharing these values and even genealogy with Troy Junior some day. I still don't know that I will join some elite society for descendants of a famous group of men and women in French Canadian history, though.