I know a 79-year-old gentleman who, Wednesday before last, when the snow was coming down in buckets and the roads were an ice skater's dream, headed out to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. He was driving a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado two-wheel-drive truck. His wife needed a refill on a prescription she takes regularly and it was not an option for her to do without it.
Although many people told him he should not go and to wait for the storm to let up, he was not having it. He would not entertain the idea of anyone else going for him. He felt it was his responsibility and he was going to take care of it.
He headed out in his pickup creeping along at what looked to be less than 10 mph. Approximately one and a half hours later, he returned safe and sound to his home with his wife's medicine. When I asked how was the trip he said, "The roads were not great, but it had to be done."
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a sterling example of grit. The dictionary defines grit as "a positive, noncognitive trait based on an individual's perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular goal or end state (a powerful motivation to achieve an objective). This perseverance of effort promotes the overcoming of obstacles or challenges that lie on the path to accomplishment and serves as a driving force in achievement realization."
Contrast that gentleman's efforts with many of us with our all-wheel-drive, super duty, off-road, max torque, airbag-laden SUVs who were stuck at home for a week. What was the difference? Was it grit or is it a generational thing?
There is just something different about people who grew up in a time before all the modern conveniences we all enjoy so much. Has all the mocha latte and hair gel eaten away at our grit?
I have a friend who often describes his children with the following phrase, "Too much, too fast, too easy." He believes that he has done a disservice to his offspring by providing them with so many things that he did not have growing up. He believes that if he had been tougher on his children they would be better adults.
I, for one, know I am not as tough or as gritty as my father. He grew up during the Great Depression and he would have rather cut off his thumb than ask someone for help. If he could not do it himself, it was not going to be done.
I wonder if society as a whole has lost our grit. Has convenience and ease inherently changed us and made us something that does not remotely resemble the "greatest generation" as Tom Brokaw described them?
I pray that we are never tested with anything like the Great Depression and World War II. I like to think we could answer the call. Let us just hope the call does not come while it is snowing.