“She’s so nice”
8 11 2009I overheard the title from a young man today. The young man in question came to help with the lambs, observe the butchering process, and subsequently take home his lamb (and the nasty dirty fleeces, guts, and legs - I forget what he said he was going to do with the hooves). He brought a friend with him, a friend I presume is his roommate, as they discussed whether or not to eat the lamb liver “as soon as they get home”. They were both about 25, extremely earnest, clean, sweet in a city boy naive way, and very vocal about their many beliefs that had to do with generalized tree hugging, local foods, energy (they sort of lost me on that subject), recycling, and all that green stuff.
I listened, sometimes mocking them silently, smirking, and sometimes wondering why my daughter couldn’t fall for one of them instead of the ignorant redneck she keeps supporting. They were both unreasonably idealistic, but as annoying as that sounds, it’s infinitely more tolerable than wondering if a certain young man who seems destined to spawn some of my grandchildren will EVER get a job.
The two young men who came out have made a vow (to each other? I never quite figured that out) to eat 100% local (within 100 miles of their home in Portland) for one year, which started in March. They spent the summer learning to can and freeze, figuring out meal plans, and finding food sources. I’m going to keep track of them and see how they do. Their two dogs are participating too.
I did make some comparisons between them and my own kids. My kids just sort of take it for granted that food is local, be it grown at home or hunted/harvested wild from the woods and river. They know how to process and preserve all kinds of food. They really don’t understand how lucky that makes them. Of course, turned loose in the world, they eat Top Ramen and Taco Bell.
After two frantic hours of moving lambs through our own little assembly line, the boys were loading up their treasures and asking about goat’s milk for the spring - I guess I don’t mind them too much and they can come back - when I turned to go back to the house and one of them whispered “She’s so nice”.
I smiled to myself, but really, I’m not all that nice. Like I said, I was mocking them silently. But I also found them pretty darn amazing.
Wellllll, you may laugh at me behind my back too, but you’re always nice to my face, and that’s no small thing, considering how nasty much of the world is and how annoying I’m told I can be.
I wish these guys well. They sound both sweet and kind of cool. love, V
Awww, I think they sound like sweet young men. Oh, to be young, idealistic and naive again.
Mock under your breath all you want, really it’s how you make people feel that counts. You made them feel like they had someone to look up to. Life could be so much worse! I have heard of the 100 mile challenge in some womens magazine I found in my ob/gyn’s office. No, I’m totally mot mocking 2 young boys! Well ok maybe but they’ll never know…
Aww… they sound like lovely young men. I hope my DD finds an idealistic, and yet resourceful and active, man like that when she gets older.
Doc,
Reading about these two young men made me remember back to my early twenties and how earnest my group was about things. Different topics, but just as idealistic, except we had people beating us down with taunts and sometimes physical force.
That was before the realization hit that no matter how much we wanted to change the world by doing our little bit the stupidity and disinterest from most of the rest of the world would overwhelm the small good we tried to do and cynicism set in.
I bet you had the same ideals. I feel a Phil Collins song coming on. “Do you remember?” Sing the chorus with me.
The good news is as I age some of my idealism has returned but salted with a strong sense of pragmatism. I do what I can because it’s the right thing for me; I no longer listen to the naysayers, or I nod and smile politely and they go away happy that their nihilism has infected someone else.