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Sections Home Page Local News AP News Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Photo Gallery Since We Asked Sports Tempo Weather Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Readers Choice 2006 Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Our Valley Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend June 16, 2006 Life with father The great agnostic Bertrand Russell once said that his religion could be summed up in the first two words of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father." He must have had a great dad. Every year when Father's Day rolls around we get a chance to honor and remember our own dads. And in the process we have the opportunity to include our father's father. That's what Arlo Guthrie is doing this year. He and his kids and their kids are on tour and they're coming to Britt June 25. They are carrying on the musical legacy of Woody Guthrie, which stretches back to the 1930s. That's the way it goes with families — famous ones or ones like yours and mine. We're all part of a stream of living history that had its origins a long, long time ago. We're standing in the present right in the middle of that stream. Our children and their children are moving ahead into the future, wherever the flow leads them. You can't help but be struck by the whole business of generations and how different they are from one another. The catalyst for these differences has been the rapid pace at which the very world our relatives lived in has changed. Our ancestors landed here with very little money and even less English. What they relied on used to be called "pluck." They were determined to make a go of it — whatever it took. Advertisement Those of us fortunate enough to have heard the stories from our grandparents and great-grandparents have a sense of what living in those days was like. Imagine raising a family back then. What would be the most important things you would want to teach your children? What skills, what values would you want to pass on to them? Back in those days, most children grew up helping around the house and with the family's livelihood. They worked alongside their parents in the fields; in the workshops where their parents made shoes, dresses or cabinets; in the restaurants and bakeries where their parents prepared and served food; and in the shops where their parents sold goods. The poet/philosopher Robert Bly has made much of this early connection between boys and the work their fathers did. His contention is that as life became more urban and men "went to work" away from the home and away from the children, it became more and more difficult for the children to relate to what Daddy did all day. In many cases, what Daddy was doing "at the office" couldn't be seen or described as clearly as finished products used to. He now worked with ideas, with pieces of paper. When he came home, he was tired, sometimes frustrated. And his children had no idea why. Something about a "rat race." When the Great Depression came, many people lost everything — including their will to live. Those who survived were determined that their children would have the opportunity to make a go of it — whatever it took. These were the people that Woody Guthrie sang about. Imagine raising a family then. A recurring theme in literature and theater during the 1950s is men who can't or won't hold down a job. Or who can't seem to fit into the impersonal corporate world. The Willy Lomans. As fathers, these men still tried to impart something to their sons. Some life lesson to cling to like a life jacket that would keep them afloat in the churning waters of an unpredictable and uncaring world. Those who were successful often were so at the cost of their health and family. The "tranquilizer generation," they dispensed their sedatives from medicine jars and martini shakers. Many men from that generation were emotionally — if not physically — absent as fathers. Not affectionately demonstrative, they were called into action as the need arose. "Just wait till your father gets home," was the threat mothers levied on their misbehaving children. My father was part of that generation. He came home worn out and disconnected from us and the world. But he was determined to make a go of it — in his own way — and for that I will always love him. Each generation, each family, produces the kind of father it needs. In the movies and on TV fathers are rarely portrayed with any intelligence or wisdom. Our own fathers grew up in a world that is already ancient history by the time we become fathers ourselves. What of that world do we want to pass on to our children and what do we want to toss out? Today's fathers may not know best, but we're determined to make a go of it — in our own way. And for that I wish us all a most Happy Father's Day. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback online casinos news Home Security Systems California Casinos Men's Clothing Southern Oregon Loans --> GMAT Prep Fundraisers Send Flowers Texas Electric Choice Entertainment Guide --> Casinos Canada Trunks, Footlocker Online Casino Reviews Advertisement s Advertisement