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So I was having a conversation with this guy yesterday. He was telling me about something he had watched about some accomplishments that men and women had made at a very young age. The essence of the story focused around how the youth of yesteryear had far greater expectations placed on them, with much lesser means to accomplish them. One piece of this story that stood out most significantly was about a boy who joined the Navy at the age of 8 years old; obviously this was not in recent times. Through sheer hard work, obedience and determination, the boy was commissioned to the rank of captain, by the ripe old age of 12! I was impressed with the strong work ethic this boy must have had at such a young age. We have all watched movies that depict the cruel and unforgiving life of a sailor. A life consisting of harsh conditions, iron-fist rule and endless hours of back breaking work. This rewarded by modest meals and even more modest pay. So the question that kept floating around in my mind was, "how did this kid develop such a strong work ethic so early in life?”. Then I thought, “Well what are the two ways kids learn?” One way is through observation and the other through instruction. So it would seem that the boy was either taught the virtue of hard work or it was something that he had observed early on in life. Then today I was having a conversation with a guy who was telling me about man who lived in our neighbourhood who was seemingly lacking in any measure of work ethic at all. Being of able body and sound mind, this man still lived at home with his parents and spent the day smoking and playing video games. When it came to clearing snow, instead of graciously shoveling the driveway of the widow up the street, he couldn’t even bother to finish his own driveway once the snow blower gave out. So then the thought came to me, “How could this man have such poor work ethics at this stage of his life?” Again the answer was instruction or observation. Now having these two conflicting realities in my head, I began to take stock of what I’m teaching my own kids about the importance of hard work and how I’m displaying these lessons through my own actions. So today I set out to be as intentional as possible. Right after breakfast, I grabbed my shovel prepared to battle the freshly fallen snow. But instead of taking it to my own driveway, I noticed my neighbour having a battle of her own. Bypassing my driveway, I headed straight over to help her with hers. By the time I crossed the street to dig myself out; my son appeared at my side with his shovel, prepared to join me in battle.
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