Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Delivery Boy for a Day
Delivery Boy for a Day
Mar 16, 2025 6:11 PM

In light of my recent posts on boyhood and the formative power of work, anew holiday ad for UPS does a nice job of illustrating akey point: something deep down in a boy longsfor work, and that basicdesire ought to be guided, encouraged, and discipled accordingly, not downplayed, distorted, or ignored.

The ad highlights one of pany’s youngest fans, a boy named Carson, who is fascinated by UPS trucks and relishes the chance to perform deliveries in a miniature model of his own. It’s funny, charming, heart-warming, and all the rest. (HT)

Girls are created for work as well, of course—subject for another ad, another day— but anyone who is parent to a boy knows that the shape of Carson’s excitement has a particular arc and aim. Boys love things that go, enjoy working with their hands, respond wellwhen given big-red-button ownership, and so on. Yet even as we perceive these basic tendencies, it can be easy for us to sideline them as mere Vroom-Vroom Stereotypes, cute and quaint as a blue baseball cap, but not all that meaningful or distinct in the grand scheme of things.

On the contrary, in a prosperous and privileged societysuch as ours,surrounded by distractions and looming temptations of idleness and hedonism, we should be all the more attentive of and to that simple,natural glee that we seeinCarson. Yes, it’s charming. Yes it’s heart-warming. But primarily because it’s driving force isso foundationalto all that it means to be a man.

Rather than leaving our boys to their own devices or, conversely, smothering them with excessive coddling and concern, we ought to allow and empower them toinitiate:to drive the truck, to shake the hands, to grin and greet and serve and flourish, providing healthymentorship, guidance, and discipline along the way.

When our boys show interest in the inner-workings of gadgetsand factories, the heroics of pilots and oil riggers and firemen, and the speed and size of trains and delivery trucks, yearning toput their own hands to work, we should be quick toencourage and empowerthat deep, God-given gift for a particular kind of stewardship.

“The masculine spirit, the thumos, is developed by habituation in the routine…the small things…everyday chores…work,” says James Daniels in a recentinterview with the Circe Institute.“…We must be about the work of connecting the dots for young men — showing them how taking initiative in the mundane fits into the higher pursuits and calling of being a man.”

What better way to start than at the age of 4, with rightly sized tires to boot?

(HT: Owen Strachan)

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Proverbs 18:6-7   (Read Proverbs 18:6-7)   What mischief bad men do to themselves by their ungoverned tongues!   Proverbs 18:6 In-Context   4 The words of the mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.   5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked and so deprive the innocent of...
Verse of the Day
  1 John 2:28 In-Context   26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.   27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit-just...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on John 14:18-24   (Read John 14:18-24)   Christ promises that he would continue his care of his disciples. I will not leave you orphans, or fatherless, for though I leave you, yet I leave you this comfort, I will come to you. I will come speedily to you at my resurrection. I will come daily to...
Verse of the Day
  Revelation 1:8 In-Context   6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.   7 Look, he is coming with the clouds,Daniel 7:13and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all peoples on earth will mourn because of him.Zech. 12:10So...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Romans 1:16-17   (Read Romans 1:16-17)   In these verses the apostle opens the design of the whole epistle, in which he brings forward a charge of sinfulness against all flesh; declares the only method of deliverance from condemnation, by faith in the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ; and then builds upon it purity of...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on James 3:13-18   (Read James 3:13-18)   These verses show the difference between men's pretending to be wise, and their being really so. He who thinks well, or he who talks well, is not wise in the sense of the Scripture, if he does not live and act well. True wisdom may be know by the...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on James 3:1-12   (Read James 3:1-12)   We are taught to dread an unruly tongue, as one of the greatest evils. The affairs of mankind are thrown into confusion by the tongues of men. Every age of the world, and every condition of life, private or public, affords examples of this. Hell has more to do...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Psalm 25:1-7   (Read Psalm 25:1-7)   In worshipping God, we must lift up our souls to him. It is certain that none who, by a believing attendance, wait on God, and, by a believing hope, wait for him, shall be ashamed of it. The most advanced believer both needs and desires to be taught of...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Proverbs 20:3   (Read Proverbs 20:3)   To engage in quarrels is the greatest folly that can be. Yield, and even give up just demands, for peace' sake.   Proverbs 20:3 In-Context   1 Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.   2 A king's wrath strikes terror like...
Verse of the Day
  Commentary on Today's Verse   Commentary on Ephesians 2:1-10   (Read Ephesians 2:1-10)   Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has no desire for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man. But if...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved