This is a great—thanks for sharing. I especially enjoyed Tolkien’s letter to his son on parental debt:
As for your gratitude to me, and your sense of unworthiness: God bless you. You do (from your point of view) owe me a lot. I have many talents that might from a worldly point of view have been better used than in ‘examining’. You can repay me, as much as I could possibly ask, by adhering to your faith, and keeping yourself pure and sober, and by giving me your confidence. Every good father deserves the fraternal friendship of his sons when they grow up. But of course from my point of view I have done nothing but my plain duty, and that not too well. I have spoken far too little to you, and not made it as easy as I should for you to find my friendship. As for your upbringing: it is my simple duty to try and bring you up in my own status and class; and in working for and supporting my son I merely repay the debt I owe to God, and to my parents and benefactors. Life is like that. We cannot repay our debts to those whom we owe: we have to go forward. If you have sons, you will have to sweat for them.
It’s fascinating and tragic that children only realize the debt they owe to their parents later in life. It took me 25+ years, and I’m still learning every day about my parents’ sacrifices. Hopefully, as Tolkien suggests, we can at least pay it forward.
This is a great—thanks for sharing. I especially enjoyed Tolkien’s letter to his son on parental debt:
It’s fascinating and tragic that children only realize the debt they owe to their parents later in life. It took me 25+ years, and I’m still learning every day about my parents’ sacrifices. Hopefully, as Tolkien suggests, we can at least pay it forward.