A Little House of an Ideal Dream...

Way back yonder when this white man recalls asking his then-fiancee in Vietnam what her ideal expectation was and/or who her perfect role-model for a husband was I recall she replied in one word..."chac-ly"! Completely confused and not wanting this important point to get lost in translation, I pressed on the matter of who or what "chac-ly" meant.. and eventually I understood. For one of the favourite TV shows in Phuong's little house in a post-1986 Vietnam following the institution of the "Doi Moi" 'opening up' of the regime's economic and social reforms was the classic 70's US frontier drama Little House on the Prairie. And the main star of that wholesome serial, so full of good old Christian values was Michael Landon, who played Charles Ingalls, the father of the Ingalls family. I knew the show for my house back in Australia had grown up with the Ingalls family as well. What I remembered the most was the familiar opening melody of the show and the sight of the three Ingalls daughters running down the hill and the littlest one falling over! As a young boy that must have struck me funny for some reason. So there it was - Charles Ingalls, or as any Vietnamese would refer to him through the best efforts of their local tongue, "Chac-ly" - the model of manhood!

So the benchmark for being the finest husband possible was set. And what a high bar of exemplary moral fibre it appeared to be. For if you know the series, you would understand that Charles Ingalls was a man who was indefatiguable, upright, proud and with manly integrity oozing from his hard-working sweaty pores. He rarely appeared to be dishevelled (has there ever been a more perfect equilibrium of wild manhood in those longish curly locks yet with the femininity of a clean shaven chiseled jaw?), always seemed to have the wisdom of Solomon and yet also possessed the romantic touch, forever greeting his wife Caroline with a kiss and making her feel like a queen. In short, Charles Ingalls elevated the ideal qualities of fatherhood and spousehood to almost divine levels. This white man felt the scrutiny of comparison immediately and deep inside was found scurrying off to the shadows of my relatively mediocre state of manhood. Could I ever rise to the pantheons of "Chac-ly"? Not likely my realistic mind reasoned...

So why this quaint little history lesson some 13 years later you ask? Just the other day I stumbled across 6-7 DVD's spanning the entire seasons length of Little House on the Prairie. So I bought the first season DVD and surprised Phuong with it a few nights ago (just like Chac-ly would have!). We are slowly making our way through the episodes of the first season and are thoroughly enjoying them. Really good, decent, inoffensive stories with sound morality - exactly the kind of watching that is as scarce as hen's teeth these days on TV. The tissue box has been busy and memories have been stimulated as Chac-ly has returned to Phuong's life! But for the white man, as much as I have appreciated the show for what it delivers, some old insecurities started to arise...Am I still living in the shadow of Chac-ly?! Have I lived out a worthy standard as a husband and a father?! I admit to jesting a little in these hypothetical questions but deep inside I still had had this innate need to find some 'dirt' on this Chac-ly, just to balance the ledger! So this white man went digging!

Of course you can't beesmirch a TV character as saintly as Charles Ingalls was because the written character itself would never allow for it. But what about Michael Landon?! I didn't have to dig far to find some measure of manly redemption. Landon died at the age of 54 due to liver and other related cancers, most commonly attributed to the fact that he was a four packet-a-day smoker and a heavy drinker of alcohol. Then I remembered, Charles Ingalls in the show would regularly smoke a pipe! Deliverance at last...a chink in what seemed to be Chac-ly's impenetrable masculine armour and this white man's spine has been that little bit firmer and vertical since!

On a more serious note, how often do we find ourselves craving the ideal utopias we get presented with in life? For in many ways, a Little House on the Prairie is just that - a utopian deeply-held dream and Christian ideal for how living in family and community should be. The near-perfect husband/wife and father/mother raising their well-grounded children in a safe and wholesome community based on flawless Christian values. I asked Phuong if she would have enjoyed to live life back then in a place like Walnut Grove? She replied affirmatively, stating her main reason why - because life was simpler back then. Or in other words, life today just seems to be more complicated and messy. And she's right, it is! But that's real life isn't it - it's grey and blurred where truths get muddied in agendas and politics. A place where the dollar rules and honest integrity is challenged when personal gain is apparent. A place far removed from the majestic oaks and sweetest sentiments of Walnut Grove.

Don't get me wrong though, for this thought won't conclude on such a cynically heartless disrobing of a worthwhile ideal. No episode of Little House... ends that way! Because I have to be honest - I'd like to live in a Little House too and I'd love to be half the man Chac-ly is! I think in some way this is the hope I have - to live in a world a little more saturated with the virtues of God's Kingdom and to be more of a semblance of our world's Creator. There's a place of haven and hope in a Little House on the Prairie and it's been a real pleasure to re-visit that place deep inside this white man's soul...