The Chain of Wisdom
Elders love telling stories … often repeating them. Children
love hearing stories … often repeated ones. Why do they want to hear stories
they already know? They're getting something more valuable: their elder's
attitude. That's where the wisdom is.
Attitudes
refine with every experience, turning elders into gold mines. Youth armed with
elder attitudes don't have to learn as much by experience. The
attitude they carry tells them how to respond in almost any situation they're
likely to find themselves.
When children listen to their elders' stories, they strengthen their link in
a golden "Chain of Wisdom" reaching back into prehistory. Values,
beliefs, culture, and heritage transfer naturally, providing identity, esteem,
and purpose. Stories from our elders are like emotional vitamins. We need them.
Americans born in the 1950s were the first to grow up with stories from TV
instead of their elders. The programs of simple and foolish characters in
artificial situations seemed like good entertainment, but didn't provide what
the children needed. When they became young adults, they knew something was
missing. Their "Chain of Wisdom" had broken.
"We have to find ourselves," they said.
"Look in the mirror!" their parents replied.
Eventually the baby-boomer generation developed a system of values and beliefs, but it was the economy
version of their elders' rich culture.
Trading up
Heirloom Stories from the Harnessmaker's Son humorously
transfers values shared by many cultures. The wisdom hides in unwritten sentences before the punch lines. The thoughts pop
into the reader's mind just before they laugh. (Pavlov would approve.)
The simple sounding stories speak with "common" sense on several levels, including history,
values, culture, and humor. They transmit feelings of playfulness,
honesty, understanding, and caring. Click here to read
sample stories.
The stories explore universal themes and are told the way elders have always told
stories: They're short, in the first person, and end with a twist, usually a laugh.
Sometimes, readers also feel like crying as they laugh. Click
here to read "Three Words," the first story in the book.
The stories will touch you deeply, but they can help in
other ways. When you give a copy to an elder, it triggers their stories. It opens the door to your own heritage and development, increases your
elder's happiness and health, and develops a resource for younger family members.
Use Harnessmaker's Son to strengthen your "Chain of Wisdom."
Click Here to find out how.
Click here to order your copy of Harnessmaker's
Son.
Psychologists: Click here for a special offer.