Stupid Americans...
... is a phrase you often hear in the UK. I've said it myself, although it's been directed towards the current US government, rather than it's citizens.
Last night though, I saw a programme on one of those cable channels that lurk at the far end of the TV guide that should be made compulsory viewing to anyone that has uttered that phrase. It was the most heartwarming piece of TV that I've seen for a long time.
Initially, I was expecting it to be cringeworthy. It was a documentary centering around a family with no less than sixteen children. They were from Arkansas, and all the kids had names beginning with J. They were all biblical names as well, such as Jebediah, Jesiah and so on. Thinking of sixteen names beginning with J is a feat in itself. The dad was called Jim-Bob. I found that funny, as I thought people were only called Jim-Bob in King Of The Hill cartoons, but he really was. Nobody, not even his wife, shortened it Jim, either.
A couple of weeks ago in the UK, there was an article in the paper about a guy who had 12 kids, or thereabouts. He didn't work, neither did his wife, his kids were the sorts of oiks that you'd hate to encounter anywhere (you know the ones, any boy over the age of four has already got an earring and they all wore baseball caps in that threatening way that only those sorts of people can). He lived off of benefits, and was in the news because he was claiming the council should give him a bigger house as it was unfair and against his human rights to be squashed into the one he already was provided with, free of charge, despite the fact that he made no contribution to society of any kind.
What a contrast! The US family were lovely. They all got along, the kids had respect for their parents and for each other. There was never a raised voice or a raised hand, nor a foul word uttered. The mother stayed at home to home-school the children, and the father worked, presumably very hard, to provide for them. He was a good dad, too. They all lived in a 3-bedroom house with only two bathrooms. Clearly they needed something bigger, but these were not the sort of people who would go banging on the door of the local council demanding a bigger place. These people had self-respect and a work ethic that puts us all to shame.
The main focus of the story was that they had decided to build their own house. You couldn't have done what they did in the UK on their scale, as the land alone would have cost a couple of million, the planning permission would have taken ten years, and the cost of materials and labour would have been astronomical.
But, rather than hiring people to do it, they built most of the house themselves. They didn't know how to build, so they learned as they went. It was a steel-framed house, so they learned welding. They also learned plumbing, woodwork, plastering, everything. And by "they", I mean the entire family. They all helped to build this house. The children had their own drills at the age of eight and they all worked hard. For three years. Most kids would have got bored of working after a few weeks, but these little guys were still at it three years later. The house was for them, and they helped with everything, including the interior design.
The end result was a masterpiece. It still only had three bedrooms, because the boys wanted to be together in one giant room, and so did the girls. They probably could have had their own rooms but they wanted to be together. The difference is that these were huge rooms. They also had nine bathrooms. The kitchen was effectively a cafeteria, with industrial ovens and dishwashers. It only cost them $11,000 because they bought all the stuff second-hand. They also had a second, smaller kitchen. The pantry had a roll-up door that a delivery van could drive right up to, and more shelving than my local shop. They had a launderette with four washing machines and four dryers, which pleased one of the girls as it was her job to do the laundry and previously they only had one washer and one dryer. Not that she had complained, of course.
It was very Von-Trapp in parts, particularly at the end when they gathered around the grand piano they had obtained (a Wyman piano, I reckon provided by the TV company as a gift), with the eldest child playing it, and the other fifteen playing along on their violins to Amazing Grace. Given my personal opinion that the violin was actually designed as an instrument of torture, rather than an instrument of music, it actually sounded quite good.
Seeing this family work together, willingly and with smiles on their faces, brought a smile to me, too. You may think people are mad to have that many kids, and in this country it's only really done to get benefits. I'm not naive enough to think that this is the same situation all over the US, but it proves that it can be done, and done well.
Stupid Americans? Stupid us, more like.
Last night though, I saw a programme on one of those cable channels that lurk at the far end of the TV guide that should be made compulsory viewing to anyone that has uttered that phrase. It was the most heartwarming piece of TV that I've seen for a long time.
Initially, I was expecting it to be cringeworthy. It was a documentary centering around a family with no less than sixteen children. They were from Arkansas, and all the kids had names beginning with J. They were all biblical names as well, such as Jebediah, Jesiah and so on. Thinking of sixteen names beginning with J is a feat in itself. The dad was called Jim-Bob. I found that funny, as I thought people were only called Jim-Bob in King Of The Hill cartoons, but he really was. Nobody, not even his wife, shortened it Jim, either.
A couple of weeks ago in the UK, there was an article in the paper about a guy who had 12 kids, or thereabouts. He didn't work, neither did his wife, his kids were the sorts of oiks that you'd hate to encounter anywhere (you know the ones, any boy over the age of four has already got an earring and they all wore baseball caps in that threatening way that only those sorts of people can). He lived off of benefits, and was in the news because he was claiming the council should give him a bigger house as it was unfair and against his human rights to be squashed into the one he already was provided with, free of charge, despite the fact that he made no contribution to society of any kind.
What a contrast! The US family were lovely. They all got along, the kids had respect for their parents and for each other. There was never a raised voice or a raised hand, nor a foul word uttered. The mother stayed at home to home-school the children, and the father worked, presumably very hard, to provide for them. He was a good dad, too. They all lived in a 3-bedroom house with only two bathrooms. Clearly they needed something bigger, but these were not the sort of people who would go banging on the door of the local council demanding a bigger place. These people had self-respect and a work ethic that puts us all to shame.
The main focus of the story was that they had decided to build their own house. You couldn't have done what they did in the UK on their scale, as the land alone would have cost a couple of million, the planning permission would have taken ten years, and the cost of materials and labour would have been astronomical.
But, rather than hiring people to do it, they built most of the house themselves. They didn't know how to build, so they learned as they went. It was a steel-framed house, so they learned welding. They also learned plumbing, woodwork, plastering, everything. And by "they", I mean the entire family. They all helped to build this house. The children had their own drills at the age of eight and they all worked hard. For three years. Most kids would have got bored of working after a few weeks, but these little guys were still at it three years later. The house was for them, and they helped with everything, including the interior design.
The end result was a masterpiece. It still only had three bedrooms, because the boys wanted to be together in one giant room, and so did the girls. They probably could have had their own rooms but they wanted to be together. The difference is that these were huge rooms. They also had nine bathrooms. The kitchen was effectively a cafeteria, with industrial ovens and dishwashers. It only cost them $11,000 because they bought all the stuff second-hand. They also had a second, smaller kitchen. The pantry had a roll-up door that a delivery van could drive right up to, and more shelving than my local shop. They had a launderette with four washing machines and four dryers, which pleased one of the girls as it was her job to do the laundry and previously they only had one washer and one dryer. Not that she had complained, of course.
It was very Von-Trapp in parts, particularly at the end when they gathered around the grand piano they had obtained (a Wyman piano, I reckon provided by the TV company as a gift), with the eldest child playing it, and the other fifteen playing along on their violins to Amazing Grace. Given my personal opinion that the violin was actually designed as an instrument of torture, rather than an instrument of music, it actually sounded quite good.
Seeing this family work together, willingly and with smiles on their faces, brought a smile to me, too. You may think people are mad to have that many kids, and in this country it's only really done to get benefits. I'm not naive enough to think that this is the same situation all over the US, but it proves that it can be done, and done well.
Stupid Americans? Stupid us, more like.
posted by Nej at
1:32 pm
1 Comments:
Having lived in America for a good many years, I would go along with that. Whilst I have serious reservations about their government, I have the greatest respect for the American people - hell, I even married one! And, although they can't spell worth a damn, at any rate they speak the language more clearly than the average Brit.
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Diary of a Ghost Writer, at 10:02 am
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