My fiction book for the week was Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott.  Little Men continues the story of Jo March, begun in the book, Little Women, also by Alcott.  Jo is a grown woman now and married to Fritz Bhaer.  The Bhaers run a school for boy and Little Men details their exploits in an endearing, if moralizing, fashion.  The book was a delightful read, and I found I actually enjoyed the moralizing.  It was refreshing to read about how each boy delighted in being good and found satisfaction in helping others as opposed to realm of moral relativism in which we often find ourselves these days.  I liked reading about boys who helped out and who made mistakes that eventually resulted in a lesson learned.

I loved Jo was a girl when I first read Little Women because she was smart, opinionated, and fiercely devoted to those she loved.  In those respects, Jo has not changed, thus making her an excellent mother to her brood of boys.  She was still full of fun and could enjoy letting the boys have a little head, but her trust and loving ways brought them back to themselves when they got carried away.

Her fierce and unrelenting love, even in the face of woeful mistakes, leads her boys to become better and better men.  Her love was always unconditional, always steadfast.  It seems to me that too often these days our love is conditional.  I'll love you as long as you...I'll stay as long as you continue to ...There is very little unconditional love these days when even my eight-year-old speaks casually about divorce being an option if her unrequited crush should be so foolish as to marry someone else.  We did have a little talk about that, but children used to just assume that falling in love was forever and now it seems that falling in love is only for a little while.  Jo and Fritz make an amazing team as both educators and parents.  Jo loves completely and unconditionally and perhaps that is why she is so successful at it. Knowing that she could get hurt does not stop her from loving Dan, who runs away and in a later book just might break her heart, or any of the other children.  I think that we could all learn a lesson from Jo.  She made time for fun with the children, did not forget what it was like to be young and awkward, followed her heart, and loved with her whole being.  These are qualities that I choose to emulate and hope I can teach to my young charge while I still have the chance.