Cinderella

A Grateful Reader writes:

Near starvation and hard labor are difficult to endure, but they are not degrading to a person. They are humbling, but they do no damage to the soul. Your post The Last Doughboy discussed the life of Frank Buckles, who endured starvation and hard labor in a Japanese prison camp for over three years, yet he kept his dignity and respected the dignity of his fellow prisoners by helping them to endure their lot with hope. If the children of the Industrial Revolution in Britain had only to endure near starvation and exhausting toil, they were better off than those today whose stomachs are stuffed to obesity from infancy and whose eyes and ears are assaulted daily with degrading, dehumanizing filth. The latter have their souls damaged even more than their bodies; or in the language of therapy, they are emotionally traumatized and continue to damage themselves into adulthood. 

We might consider the fairy tale of Cinderella, who was forced to labor and eat very little, while her stepsisters grew fat and lazy. This was ancient wisdom, meant to teach the people that enduring near starvation and hard labor without becoming spiteful will bring rewards to a child when she reaches adulthood; while, gluttony and sloth will lead to spite and misery in her adulthood. I do not wish to make light of the situations in which children were beaten badly or sexually abused – that was unconscionable – but I expect that the numbers of those were mostly exaggerated. (Perhaps the numbers man Jesse Powell could tell us.) 

Numbers are important, but words are even more so. As Dr. Bertonneau writes, “Words not only have meanings and consequences; they also have connotations, and the connotations have meanings and consequences.” The modern connotation of the words adult and mature do not reflect the dignity that adulthood and maturity should have. They no longer represent the wisdom and strength of character which can only be earned by living honorably for many years; rather, they are used in one sense to signify sexually explicit and violent themes, especially in books and movies, or in another sense to signify infirmity or a boring nature. Perhaps, because this has happened, modern adults prefer childishness (which signifies fun) to maturity (in the old-fashioned sense). Perhaps, too, modern adults would rather be immature (in the second sense of ‘not boring or wrinkly’). Ironically, those modern adults encourage children to become mature (in the first sense of ‘participating in sexual and violent acts’.) 

Slowly, slowly, those who show greater respect to the old, considering old age to be an honored stage of life, might help restore the old-fashioned connotations to the meanings of the words adult and mature, and rescue adulthood and childhood from the unhealthy state in which they are held captive.

                                                         — Comments —

G.R. adds:

Oh dear. The three men in the drawing appear to be leering laciviously at Cinderella, not unlike the stereotypical Hollywood producers with the aspiring actress who just arrived from the farm. That is not the appropriate reward for an endurance of struggles. If in her shoes, I should prefer to return to sweeping the ashes from the hearth and take my chances with the next honest cobbler who comes along.

Laura writes:

That is an illustration by Gustave Doré.

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