Photo: Polo Ralph Lauren 1986
All sons, particularly WASPy offspring ask themselves this question at some point in their lives regardless of their closeness to their father. Most WASP offspring belong to successful parents, and whether your daddy made his own fortune, inherited it, or married it, you will ask yourself this question at some point.
In my case, I honestly don't know the answer. True, I have been very successful in life, and at 33, I hope I have only begun. However, I did not follow in my father's footsteps, and I did not join the family business. Only once in my life can I remember my father telling me he was proud of me, and I question whether he meant it or was just saying.
In the end, one should not worry. Most fathers love their children, even if they have a funny way of showing it!
13 comments:
Now we're getting somewhere. Let's explore this further. It is all starting to make sense. When your father ignored you, how did that make you feel? I'm going to count backwards from twenty. When I reach zero you will be in a fully relaxed state. This is a safe place Richard. Try to imagine that you are that young boy again, seeking his approval. Really put yourself in that place for a moment. Let's imagine that you are fourteen again. You are young with all the cares that only a fourteen year old has. Now imagine that you are writing a blog. What things would that young boy write about? Perhaps the breasts your mother withheld? Awkward first encounters? Parental approval? Really let it out.
Don't we all, WASP or not. Great photo you got there.
"To earn is human, to inherit divine."
2,000 people a day look at this site?!
Western civilization has indeed collapsed...
A lot of us, however great our ancestors generally, have fathers that we are not too proud of. Life can be complicated, and not always by our own choice. Your self esteem can't be based too heavily on what anybody else thinks, even dear old dad.
Cheer up Richie! Surely those crocodile loafers he passed on to you prove how proud he is.
Richard - Early in life I learned that making broad generalized statements on topics about which one has little formal knowledge can be embarassing and potentially damaging to one's credibilty.
I learned that lesson well and strive to cease making them. I Suggest you consider learning from my mistake.
This perspective applies specifically to your overly generalized and often improper use use of the "WASP" moniker.
It's obvious that White Anglo Saxons (WASPs) have played key roles in the political, economic and social formation of the USA. As a result many of them and their progeny have profitted greatly from their initial hegenomy.
So too have the progeny of the Irish, Italians, African-Americans, Poles, Jews, Slavs, Chinese, Vietnamese and others who came later to America.
Interestingly large numbers of White Anglo Saxons across the USA live life at the margin. They are neither educated, innovative or properous. Many suffer from poor health status much of which is self inflicted and engage in behaviors that can be defined as anything but WASPish.
As evidence I cite US Census statistics for the states of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississipi and Arkansas that confirm large numbers of WASPs live life at or slightly above the poverty line.
In addition, large expanses of southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois along with large expanses of Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana along with the extreme northern counties of Michigan and New York State yield similar statistics.
WASPish is not always a compelling image from a Ralph Laurer ad campaign.
Please don't take offense to my comments. I am not singling out a specific region of the country for ridicule. I cite these facts to refute your implied comments that WASPs are the chosen people of the USA who know all and can do no wrong.
Such a generalization is simply crazy. Its it is also something that a well-bred WASP would never do, regardless of his economic or social status.
Suggest you read and reflect on the works of Max Weber and David Riesman to brush up on your knowledge of Waspishness in the USA before making it a topic of a future posting.
Have a nice weekend!
Re: WASPs are not awesome
From: A WASP
That's exactly what a unsophisticated non-WASP would say. Get over your Jewish frustrations. If you benefit from the world, as it has, currently does, or will ever exist, it has been the result of a WASP's touch. The fact that a portion of us has squandered our heritage does not discount the fact that our ancestors set in motion the relative bliss that the modern world experiences. That fact that other cultures have profited from our character is evidence of perpetual motion, if of anything else; sheer inertia. You might also notice that with the rise of the influence of other cultures that you can track the "decline of Western Civilization." The problem is that we have not been aggressive enough to protect the benefits of our sacrificed fortunes and souls. No, we opened up the success of these things for the benefit of those who do not appreciate their sacrifice; even before modern day American. If anything is the matter, it is that it is far easier to pull someone down than it is to help them up.
"Have a great weekend!"
Anon,
WASPS founded, populated, developed, and define the USA. It belongs to us.
Without WASPs, or White, hegemony, i.e., the people the USA was founded for, America ceases to exist and becomes something else, a process that we are witnessing today.
Irish, Poles, Italians, and other European kin groups become American only to the extent they assimilate into the WASP population, a transformation that is impossible for the Jews, Chinese, Africans, Vietnamese, and others who do not represent the progeny of the Founders.
It's pretty straightforward.
Only a guinea bricklayer can be proud of their child. Anyone who's raised a child of privilege is doomed to disappointment.
I would certainly not let Daddy know about WASPL0L.
Anon's lengthy rant about WASPs and misuse of the phrase by Richard is out of place because the term, as coined during the mid 20th century, referred explicitly to the New England, Mid-Atlantic and East Coast Yankees who ran the United States, not to Poor Whites in those regions or in the Midwest and South.
Sorry, sir, but you should read the literature, which never defined rednecks as WASPs.
Richard's usage is correct.
An observation that some of the commentary reminds of dialogue from Whit Stillman's movie Metropolitan.
So to recap, the Urban Bourgeoisie are destine for failure right?
No. Your dad is ashamed of you to no end.
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