What values have ye learned from the Waltons?

[dkgrant]

"One may as well be asleep as to read for anything but to improve his mind and morals ... and regulate his conduct."

I'm a newbie as a Walton fan ... my wife is the expert. But, I think that Olivia and Grandma Walton would never allow their family be a part of the lack for family value that we see in the world today. In my family Dianne and I expect the highest amount of respect from our two children ... regardless of whether or not they feel they are right. They have learned that a persons feelings is their responsibility ... always!

Starting this thread serves two purposes fer me. First, I wanted to give us a spot where we can build a collection of poetry on morals and values that we may have carried away from the Walton TV show. I have read a lot about how people are feeling they have come to the end with season 9 being offered soon. It doesn't have to be that way; because I feel with each episode there is another lesson to be learned.

Second; I wanted to present a spot where one can go to find harmony when all else appears negative fer them. An uplifting of the spirit; to reassure them that they aren't alone in the values and morales that they come to believe.

So, fer me, the most important reassurance that I am on the right track as a 'Walton Family Member Wanna Be' is as follows:

My cousin, that of which I am very close, taught me once that speaking a sharp tongue can sometimes be sharper than a knife. Also, the very famous "If ye can't speak good tidings, Mate ... then clamp it shut." Perhaps this is the one lesson I learned from the episode's I have watched so far. I think John - Boy learned an important lesson in this area (but I sure can't remember the episode ... Tracey, can ye help Love?).

I just know that many things went un-said in that family because a persons feelings was a concern. My mind wonders to a lot of hidden thought that Olivia kept to herself regarding the Baldwin sisters... Aye?

That is, perhaps, my favorite attribute of the Walton Series. Each episode represented a good lesson to learn. What does everyone else think? Is it OK to be judge-mental about a person and be verbal about it because that is their opinion and free speech is a right ... or is it better to 'CLAM Up'? Just curious. CHEERS! '>)DK

[Tracey]

Hi DK,

The episode that you are talking about is from Season 1 "The Deed".


Tracey

[herb]

Well, there's a couple of things I'd like to say. Just because series 9 is coming out it doesn't mean it's the end of anything. After all, we're on this board talking about stuff that happened on a show 30 years ago.

Now, as for the family values aspect. Yes, the Walton kids did show their parents respect, but at the same time the parents earned it. You never saw John or Olivia being petty or mean or cruel, you didn't really see them being all that authoritative - if they didn't want the kids to do something, they generally told them why, rather than just forbidding it. And every so often they let the kids make their own mistake. Most importantly though, they led their kids by example in just about everything, including tolerance for things you don't agree with - John's not attending church, yet the family saying grace at meals for example.

I have to admit I always got a kick out of the Baldwin ladies. Out of then list of great unseen characters on television, Judge Baldwin ranks right up there along with Maris on Frasier.

I don;t recall any instance of Olivia not liking the Baldwin sisters. It was more her not liking them making 'the Recipe' than anything else. Which is fine.

During the period of time the Waltons was set in, there was a big problem with moonshine making in that part of the country, and to a small extent it still goes on - also in the part of Canada where I'm at as well.

The difficulty with it is not only the illegality of it, but also the safety side - the unsanitary conditions it was made in, the ingredients, the potency of it as well. There were very high instances of deaths and blindness resulting from drinking moonshine.

The Baldwin ladies on the other hand, made their recipe in safe sanitary conditions, they weren't making it for profit, and the old dears were completely unaware they were making alcohol anyway, they were just paying tribute to their father. And everybody on the Mountain, including Ep Bridges, were tolerant and protective of them.

I've known a couple of people who made their own liquor, and I tried some once, which was more than enough. Judging by the reaction when somebody drinks the recipe, it's gotta be the good stuff.... (In Newfoundland, for many years their moonshine was called "Screech" - because that's what you did when you drank it)

Now if they were to do a prequel to the Walton's, who would play Judge Baldwin? Larry The Cable Guy? Dr, Phil? Johnny Depp? Or, my just thought of favourite, Kris Kristofferson? Saw him on a TV special the other night, he looks iconic enough to do a good Judge...


Herb, the non drinker...

[bmcgill]

I agree with the phrase, " If you don't have something good to say then don't say anything" . I try to live by that but I think it is kind of a human nature thing to gossip and talk about people behind their back. I don't know too many people that don't. I worked with people in the past that would say things that hit below the belt. I don't know what enjoyment they got out of it but they did. I think there are a lot of people out there that wish their family was like The Waltons. I like the way that there did'nt seem to be any real favorite in the family, every kid was treated the same and loved the same. A lot of parents have their favorites and don't even realize it. Good parenting means a lot. If a kid does'nt find enough love at home they will go elsewhere to find it and usually the wrong place. John and Olivia's love for each other in my opinion was the base of a good family. Grandpa of course was great. Grandma was set in her old fashion ways but they loved each other. So when a kid sees that growing up I think it makes a big impression on what kind of person they become. Unfortunately so many parents argue and fight and end up divorced and what kind of an influence does that have on a kid. That's just my opinion on why morals are slipping in this country.

[chrisusa]

Family and Friends are Everything.
Treat others as you would want to be treated.
If you have a job to do, do it well.

[herb]

I wish I could remember who it was that said "An unexamined life is one not worth living"

My family is/was sort of the "AntiWaltons"...All kinds of rows, financial shenanigans, divorces, you name it happened, going back several generations.

However, along with the ne'er do wells in my family, there were also exemplary people, people who worked hard, set a good example, people whom I could look up to. Most families are the same - a few skeletons in the closet, and decent people as well. It's up to each of us to decide which family members to take after, once we've matured and are able to look at our backgrounds.

The Waltons mean something to me because they take me back to what I consider the positive aspects of my family background, and to things I can identify with. The Waltons are set in a time before mine, I'm 50, but the last two generations of my family had kids fairly late in life.

My mom came of age in the Depression, she taught in a one room country school house in 1934 - '36. Her father was a country doctor, much like Curt's predecessor. My grandfather, who sort of looked like a slightly sinister Victor French, was born the year the American Civil War ended, and practiced as a doctor from 1886 until his death in 1931. Like most country doctors back then, he died broke, after suffering a long illness. (In 1935, two doctors in the US won a Nobel Prize for discovering a treatment for Pernicious Anemia)

My dad was the negative side of the family, he deserted the family when I was about three, I never knew him, and only found out he was ill 6 months after he died. I guess to sort of make up for my not having a father, my mom, who had been very close to her father, would tell me all sorts of stories about her father, so that even though he had died years before I was born, I still felt like I knew him - I knew how he would react in any sort of situation, and I chose, and still choose, to be like him, particularly in times of dispute.

Shows like the Waltons do a similar job - they set an example, give you something to think about after you've watched it and been entertained.

A critic might say the show is saccharine, or unrealistic, or an inaccurate portrayal of Depression era family life.

My reply would be "I DON'T CARE!" (Excuse my yelling). I like the show. It conjures up memories for me, memories of things that were real, that were accurate. I knew people like Ep Bridges, and Ike Godsey, and John and Olivia Walton, I had an uncle who was kind of like Jim Bob, only shyer. People like them enriched my life, and made it much better than it would have been otherwise.

Now I like my Dirty Harry movies, and a good shoot-em up western or a Lethal Weapon movie. But at the same time, there has to be a Waltons in order to give life balance.

Today I celebrated. I got my income tax return and the wife and I did a shopping trip. I bought a DVD of HonkyTonk Man, which I think is one of Clint Eastwood's most overlooked movies, and I bought seasons 6 thru 9 of the Waltons (it was a good tax return...)

I'm happy with both purchases...


Herb

[dkgrant]

Apr 30, 2009 20:40:13 GMT -5 herb said:

I wish I could remember who it was that said "An unexamined life is one not worth living"

My family is/was sort of the "AntiWaltons"...All kinds of rows, financial shenanigans, divorces, you name it happened, going back several generations.

However, along with the ne'er do wells in my family, there were also exemplary people, people who worked hard, set a good example, people whom I could look up to. Most families are the same - a few skeletons in the closet, and decent people as well. It's up to each of us to decide which family members to take after, once we've matured and are able to look at our backgrounds.

The Waltons mean something to me because they take me back to what I consider the positive aspects of my family background, and to things I can identify with. The Waltons are set in a time before mine, I'm 50, but the last two generations of my family had kids fairly late in life.

My mom came of age in the Depression, she taught in a one room country school house in 1934 - '36. Her father was a country doctor, much like Curt's predecessor. My grandfather, who sort of looked like a slightly sinister Victor French, was born the year the American Civil War ended, and practiced as a doctor from 1886 until his death in 1931. Like most country doctors back then, he died broke, after suffering a long illness. (In 1935, two doctors in the US won a Nobel Prize for discovering a treatment for Pernicious Anemia)

My dad was the negative side of the family, he deserted the family when I was about three, I never knew him, and only found out he was ill 6 months after he died. I guess to sort of make up for my not having a father, my mom, who had been very close to her father, would tell me all sorts of stories about her father, so that even though he had died years before I was born, I still felt like I knew him - I knew how he would react in any sort of situation, and I chose, and still choose, to be like him, particularly in times of dispute.

Shows like the Waltons do a similar job - they set an example, give you something to think about after you've watched it and been entertained.

A critic might say the show is saccharine, or unrealistic, or an inaccurate portrayal of Depression era family life.

My reply would be "I DON'T CARE!" (Excuse my yelling). I like the show. It conjures up memories for me, memories of things that were real, that were accurate. I knew people like Ep Bridges, and Ike Godsey, and John and Olivia Walton, I had an uncle who was kind of like Jim Bob, only shyer. People like them enriched my life, and made it much better than it would have been otherwise.

Now I like my Dirty Harry movies, and a good shoot-em up western or a Lethal Weapon movie. But at the same time, there has to be a Waltons in order to give life balance.

Today I celebrated. I got my income tax return and the wife and I did a shopping trip. I bought a DVD of HonkyTonk Man, which I think is one of Clint Eastwood's most overlooked movies, and I bought seasons 6 thru 9 of the Waltons (it was a good tax return...)

I'm happy with both purchases...


Herb

Herb, that would be 'An unexamined life is not worth living ' by Socrates. Well said, Mate! ">)DK