14 Character Building.
"Calvin, do you mind if I teach my marines a version of Calvinball?" Jessica's father asked. Calvin had cycled over to the base to do Mr Fingal's literature homework with Jessica and had stayed to play Calvinball with Jessica's parents – both of whom seemed quite happy to include Lily and Hobbes in conversation and games – and they were now relaxing over ice cream sundaes. Jessica's mom was, thought Calvin, particularly impressive in not making any fuss about serving ice cream even when there was a light coating of snow on the ground. Lily was partaking of ice cream sundae even though she had not been rushing about playing – she had declared herself the referee since that was more fitting for a princess. Calvin almost choked on a mouthful of his at this sudden question.
"Er, well, I suppose that's ok Gunny" said Calvin. "Why?"
The gunnery sergeant grinned.
"Well, son, in combat or even on patrol, when you think you know the rules, it's real easy for the bad guys to suddenly change the rules on you. I figured that Calvinball was a great way to teach my boys to expect the unexpected. Besides, it's fun and helps keep you fit."
"Aren't 'fun' and 'keeping you fit' mutually exclusive?" said Calvin.
Jessica's father laughed.
"Only when keeping fit is approached as a chore and actions performed with grim determination for the ends to be reached without determining whether the correct means have been chosen to meet those ends" he said.
"So it's the same as 'character building'?" said Calvin, with interest.
"Ah" said Jessica's father. "I see you've become acquainted with the principle of 'character building' as an excuse to get you to do things you dislike."
"Well, yes" said Calvin.
The gunnery sergeant started to snort and turned it into a cough. He had not formed a very good opinion of Calvin's father so far.
"The building of character" he said, carefully "Is in the setting of challenges and overcoming them. Some parts of that are often unpleasant; but unless you feel a sense of achievement at the end, you have NOT built character in a positive sense, merely reinforced a degree of resentment that is building the wrong sort of character. We get lads joining up from all walks of life and some of them have a towering resentment against society because they are poor, have barely been taught to read and feel that everyone looks down on them. Here in the marines my job is to find their strengths – and build their character by helping them to find those strengths for themselves. And it doesn't matter if they hate me on the way to their journey of self discovery so long as they learn to love themselves and trust in their own abilities and those of their comrades. Calvinball is character building because there are challenges of split-second decisions about how to adapt to ever-changing rules."
"Wow! I hadn't looked at it that way" said Calvin. "And keeping fit is supposed to be fun too?"
His friend's father grinned.
"Well, I believe you've built a lot of character in your determination to learn to ride your bike, and have become very fit cycling places with Jess, and I hope you had fun doing it."
Calvin considered.
"On the one hand," he said, honestly, "part of me is wondering whether having done something that's good for me is likely to take the lustre off the fun we've had; but another part of me feels ridiculously and scarily virtuous."
The gunnery sergeant laughed a big booming laugh.
"Heaven forbid that a fourteen year old boy should ever feel virtuous!" he said. "No, I don't like prigs either, lad; but keeping fit is doing something for yourself, because the more you do, the more things you CAN do. A month ago you couldn't get over the climbing wall we have in the garden; today you went up it to fetch the release from jail flag to rescue Jessica as though you were a marine."
"Yeah," said Calvin, "and it was fun even with the ice burn on the metal climbing knobs. I wish my dad was more like you, Gunny."
"Well, Calvin," said the gunnery sergeant, "I reckon your dad is trying to find out these things for himself but never had anyone to explain it. You should feel compassion for him that he's doing his best and not perhaps making so great a job of it. He wants to do well by you; all fathers want to do well by their kids. Well, all reasonable fathers" he amended, thinking of many of his young marines with absent fathers.
Calvin nodded. Perhaps he could help his dad understand. After all, dad had understood about bad party food. He wasn't really a total alien. Probably.
oOoOo
Calvin re-wrote his essay for Mr Fingal; he had a lot he wanted to add to it, and besides, he had an idea. He took it into the sitting room.
"Dad" he said "Will you read my literature essay please and check it for spelling mistakes?"
If his father almost passed out in shock he was also delighted.
"Certainly son," he said, adding suspiciously, "This isn't some trick to get at me is it?"
"Not at all, dad" said Calvin, crossing his fingers behind his back.
Calvin's father read,
"The pigs under Napoleon began wearing clothes like the humans they had taken the farm away from and who" – he added an 'm' in pencil to the 'who' to correct it to 'whom' " – they despised. They aped human behaviour because they perceived it as the way in which one had to act in order to be the ones in charge. We may see this in human behaviour today where people wear copies of clothes the rich and famous wear to give them some kind of psychological connection to the same rich and famous without understanding deep down the shallowness of such a lifestyle. One might also by way of comparison and contrast cite the example of people going on camping holidays and submitting themselves to privations in order to ape the Pioneers and reiterate the pioneer spirit without truly understanding how to prepare. In this little-understood desire to build a character like those they wish to emulate they fail to take into account the preparation necessary to benefit from such an experience and learn to do more, in the same way as those who would emulate the rich and famous fail to understand the joint strains of public life and the boredom inherent in a singularly useless lifestyle which leads to the bad behaviour often associated with the famous. The pigs were closer to the example of the emulation of those whom they envied, ie the rich and famous, than any honest albeit misguided, attempt to emulate those who were truly admirable and equally it is noticeable in today's society how many more people would like the lives of pop stars than those who attempt a yearly recreation of survivalism. Neither is in itself a true picture but the choice of the pigs is one of wishful hedonism as opposed to any attempt to build character."
Calvin's father looked thoughtful.
"That's pretty well thought out, son" he said. "Do you feel that building character is a sham then?"
"No" said Calvin "I just think that approaching the building of character without setting a goal of achievement is pretty futile and fails in the attempt to build character. Shovelling snow just because doesn't build character, it builds resentment. Shovelling snow because it's a matter of understanding that the car has to be able to get out in order to make sure there's food in the house is a matter of enlightened self interest. Shovelling snow in order to help someone make deliveries to the housebound little old lady builds character I guess; and so does shovelling snow and using what you've shovelled to build a toboggan slope because you then have to work on making it safe enough to use and you can enjoy the fruits of your labour. Building character doesn't have to be all the bad things, because all the bad things only lead to some animals feeling less equal than others."
"Er – right" said Calvin's father.
"He has a point" said Calvin's mother. "I don't much appreciate being told that ironing is character building; but I'm fast enough to do it to make my best evening dress look better if someone decides to take me out to dinner" and she looked pointedly at Calvin's father.
"Er, babysitter" said Calvin's father.
"Gunny and Mrs Gunny will have me, and you can have Jessica so they can go out another time" said Calvin. "You need to make contacts, dad; it's character building."
"Nice one" said Calvin's mom.
Calvin's father gave up and phoned Jessica's parents to discuss a good date to leave Calvin. He knew when he was beat!