Categories: Liga Seikste-Deksne

In this case, we should find out what the lore is. To some extent, the lore is a scale of human’s self-esteem that has established in the course of life. Thus, it develops in contact with the previous generations and their work. As much as we don’t want to admit it, but most of our life is made up of work. Considering my teenage years, my youth, then, maybe it was, I think, very good that in those kolkhoz times even children, as well as young people, got involved in the collective farmers’ working life very quickly.

In summers those were not only the units of “Lotos”, that was an opportunity, of course, for the most responsible ones, for those whom adults trusted, let’s say, young men worked as combine operators’ assistants. Very many young people worked as herds on farms. Those, who really managed to cope with the responsibility and justify that trust, were entrusted to milk cows – in the same mode as it was done by adults, and for the same, not lesser, payment. Of course, at the age of 12 or 14, that remarkably built one’s self-confidence. On the other hand, the fact that you are talked to as an equal, that people trust you, that you can earn the same wages. On the other hand, the fact that young people quickly learned to evaluate the work of adults, that load, to understand the tangible value of anything.

Maybe, let’s say, the laziest ones, who didn’t want to do those hard field works, could prove themselves by gathering medical plants. This job was also acknowledged. And it was profitable, too. The chemist’s employees issued some acknowledgments and appreciated that work as well. However, on the other hand, it is the same knowledge of our grandmothers, because to collect medical plants and to desiccate them qualitatively, and even the primary school kids were able to do that, for that, you know, the baggage of knowledge should be rather great. That was acquired by means of practical experience. Some children got the help of their moms, some – of their grandmothers, but that work was done constantly, every summer. In fact, at the age of 15, on finishing primary school, well, let’s say – none of the rural children felt that they were totally unprepared for life, and even not obtaining secondary education, they were useless. I consider that this self-confidence and self-esteem was rooted very deeply on a physical level. 

Researcher: Dr. philol. Valentīns Lukaševičs, Daugavpils Universitāte