Power of telling our children stories of success, sacrifice

Power of telling our children stories of success, sacrifice (Photo: iStock)

Michael Hopf in his postpocalyptic novel, Those Who Remain, gave us the famous line; "Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times." It describes a cyclic wave down generations where success ultimately breeds failure in subsequent generations.

The above quote can be found among Africans in the form of; fire begets ash. The English have "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations". Japanese came up with, "Rice paddies to rice paddies in three generations." The Scotts say "The father buys, the son builds, the grandchild sells and his son begs."