Posted by Ed Kiser on November 15, 2010 at 10:26:58 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: A guide Line posted by Elizabeth on November 15, 2010 at 06:41:40:
In We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, the horror of being swept by Beach End Bouy was not the fear of being "out to sea" as much as the stress of haaving broken a solemn promise to their mother. Susan kept objecting, saying, "But we PROMISED !!" Breaking that promise was practically the traumatic aspect of their otherwise hazardous condition.
They felt they had a firm standard of conduct, and went by it, although there were times they remembered their Father saying something about -
if is a matter of life or death, then rules can be broken. Such a decision was a necessary judgement call, and not taken lightly.
The beauty of LEARNING by reading Ransome is that one does not feel aware that any learning is taking place, but that it just comes naturally, and that is the easy way it ought to be.
We all might do well to set ourselves down, and try to LIST out the things that we LEARNED from reading these twelve books, and as a result, what kind of a person am I today, BECAUSE of this reading experience as a guide in my formative years. We might be quite amazed how LONG such a list can become, as well as, how often we remember something else to add to that list of lessons taught.
I am grateful for the effort Ransome put into his works, for what he has done for me in my lifetime.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky