Bear inspired me to think about values

The most impressive part of his autobiography Mud, Sweat and Tears is not the adventures Bear Grylls has survived, but his family's values surviving five generations.

The most impressive part of his autobiography Mud, Sweat and Tears is not the adventures Bear Grylls has survived, but his family's values surviving five generations.

Published Aug 24, 2015

Share

I imagined Bear Grylls’s book would be about “war stories”. And it is. But also much more, says Murray Williams.

Cape Town - A few years ago, when my son turned 11, he really wanted a knife. We discussed whether he was ready or responsible enough. Personal responsibility is one of our values.

We went to the shop. Found a great knife. But he said: “Dad, I want a Bear Grylls knife.”

I had no idea what this was, so I began reading the adventurer’s autobiography, “Mud, Sweat and Tears”.

I imagined the book would be about “war stories” – being stung by giant scorpions while descending long jungle vines into remote gorges awash with cannibals.

And it is. But how wrong I was about it being “a kids' book”.

For it’s actually about values.

The book opens with a story about Grylls’ great, great, great grandfather, Samuel Smiles, who, in 1859, wrote the first motivational book called “Self-Help”.

“It was a landmark work, and an instant best-seller, even outselling Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of the species’,” Grylls explained.

“Samuel’s book ‘Self-Help’ made plain the mantra that hard work and perseverance were the keys to personal progress… empowering the everyday person to reach for the sky,” Grylls wrote.

He quoted his ancestor: “Riches and rank have no necessary connection with genuine gentlemanly qualities.

“The poor man with rich spirit is in all ways superior to the rich man with a poor spirit.To borrow St. Paul’s words, the former is as ‘having nothing, yet possessing all things,’ while the other, though possessing all things has nothing. Only the poor in spirit are really poor.

“He who has lost all, but retains his courage, cheerfulness, hope, virtue, and self-respect, is still rich.”

The old Irishman concluded that being a gentleman had to be earned: “There is no free pass to greatness.”

But with a twist. For greatness is not about power, but humility.

He told the story of an army general, the gallant Sir Ralph Abercromby, mortally wounded, who refused the use of a common soldier’s blanket– a soldier who would have been left freezing.

Smiles wrote: “True courage and gentleness go hand in hand.”

His great, great, great grandson, Bear Grylls, would go on, 150 years later, to accomplish astonishing things.

On 16 May 1998, Grylls achieved his childhood dream of summiting of Mount Everest, aged just 23 - 18 months after breaking three vertebrae in a parachuting accident.

A feat by his super-tough body, yes – but fuelled by his distant ancestor’s values.

The most impressive part of Mud, Sweat and Tears is not the adventures Bear Grylls has survived, but his family’s values surviving five generations.

Have mine? Have yours? Do some of us even know what our values are?

Can you list them? Are they authentic? Do you live them every single day?

* Murray Williams’ column ’Shooting from the Lip’ appears in the Cape Argus every Monday.

Cape Argus

Related Topics: