Chapter 54. Act medium

“Nobody act too big, nobody act too small, everybody act medium.” 
– Will Healy, describing his and his friend’s youthful club motto

During our spring 2013 visit to Norway, Olaug and I talk of ethnic propensities – such as the Germanic tendency to be tough on self and each other, rather demanding, hesitant to smile, reticent to express emotions, and an inclination to keep things inside. Scandinavian tendencies are not so different: also reticient, skeptical, cautious, reserved, not terribly empathetic.

Dee, Olaug, & Gunnar Torset, Kristiansaand, Norway

Olaug also mentions the law of Jante: an ethos that says we’re not supposed to be showing off, we “don’t think we’re something, creep low.” This ‘law’ identifies a pattern “within Scandinavian communities that negatively portrays and criticizes individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate.”  (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante)

May I mention here my ethnicity? Dad was "all" Norwegian; Mom's mother's side was strongly German and her father's side mostly English, with some Pennsylvanian Dutch (German). In December 2016 I learn, from an Ancestry.com DNA test that my dear daughter so considerately purchased for me, that my ethnicity estimates are: 

Scandinavian 58% 

Europe West 23% 

Europe East 14% 

trace regions 4% 
    Great Britain 1%, 
    Iberian Peninsula <1%, 
    Ireland <1%, 
    European Jewish <1%.

I was wishing there was Native American in the mix, possibly one of the Hubbard men could have comingled that into their bloodline, but apparently to no avail. There is a teeny bit of Jewish and Irish though: that's fun.

Mostly Scandinavian and German: maybe not so much fun? 

Back to the law of Jante. There are ten rules in the law as defined by Aksel Sandemose, in his novel A fugitive crosses his tracks; all expressive of variations on a single theme and usually referred to as a homogeneous unit:

You are not to think you're anyone special or 

that you're better than us.

The ten rules state:

You're not to think you are anything special.

You're not to think you are as good as us.

You're not to think you are smarter than us.

You're not to convince yourself that you are better than us.

You're not to think you know more than us.

You're not to think you are more important than us.

You're not to think you are good at anything.

You're not to laugh at us.

You're not to think anyone cares about you.

You're not to think you can teach us anything.

In the book, the Janters who transgress this unwritten 'law' are regarded with suspicion and some hostility, as it goes against the town's communal desire to preserve harmony, social stability, and uniformity.

This is contrasted with the exception of a few Norwegian communities (or at least one); an example is the one in which Gunnar originated. Gunnar (relative by marriage, wife of Olaug) is a descendant of numerous Scandinavian kings, including King Olaf of St. Olaf College fame. In Gunnar’s area, not far north of where the Skarstein’s lived, the people were industrious, creative, risk-takers, and ready to grab any opportunity.

Though the Apalsets were more ‘conservative’ they ventured to  America and made a new life. Necessity often times urges us into different patterns.

(For more about their experience in the new country, see the article on Johan and Johanna’s life in Yellow Medicine County, MN, posted on ancestry.com, http://mv.ancestry.com/viewer/20ae3766-e443-4aa0-8575-ee63e1ec7338/16979894/1372263651?_phsrc=Eei333&usePUBJs=true)

A new beginning, is what they pursued and procured.