The Waltons: Let It Go!

I'm not sure what season I'm in for the Waltons. I taped some of these episodes out of order. Last week, I watched Mary Ellen's wedding to a country doctor. Today, Mary Ellen doesn't even want to get married.

One message I get from the Waltons is this: Let it go! For example, Mary Ellen didn't want to get married, since she wanted to do other things with her life. But Grandma Walton wanted her to find a man, so she set up a "quilt" gathering of women, which somehow conveys the message that Mary Ellen is "on the market" (Mary Ellen's words, not mine). And Ma Walton (Olivia) wants Mary Ellen to make her own decisions, so there's conflict between Olivia and Grandma.

Mary Ellen sulks and refuses to go to the "quilt," until John-boy tells her to think about someone other than herself, since Mary Ellen is creating strife between her mother and her grandmother. And so Mary Ellen goes to the quilt, and she puts up with little old ladies talking about how Mary Ellen should get a man. Mary Ellen still doesn't plan to get a man any time soon, since she has to run her own life. But she's willing to let things go for the sake of peace.

There was another episode a while back. John-boy got his own shed, and Mary Ellen wanted it, presumably to see her boyfriends and to have a little privacy. She and John-boy fought over it. Pa Walton then talked with John-boy and told him that it was his shed, and he could do what he wanted with it. But it would be nice if he let Mary Ellen have it.

I don't think we should let others walk all over us. I agree with Steven Covey, who said that we should seek "win-win" solutions that make both sides happy. But there are times when it helps everyone for us to let go of having our own way--to think about someone other than ourselves, regardless of what our "rights" may be.

There was one more detail on the Waltons that I really liked: Grandma was writing an advertising slogan for a soap company contest, and she won. The jingle said that the soap does what it's supposed to do, which not many things do these days. Amen to that, Grandma Walton! Some days, I feel it would be nice if anything worked.