When my youngest daughter was about 12 I guess, her mother sent her to Simpson-Sears to pick up a prepaid package. The mail order clerk asked for some identification and the only thing she had in her wallet was her membership card in the Archie Club. There was no hassle from the department store since a member in good standing of the Archie Club would be deemed to have some status and also good taste in men. Archie was intrinsically cool but also beautifully naive: characteristics that endeared him to hundreds of young girls. They didn't identify with the sly, the macho and the slick. The clerk would have recognized a fellow traveler, albeit only 12.
Even though Archie struggled with the usual trials and temptations he seemed to effortlessly overcome them with his continuing good nature. What's not to love? Certainly the Archie Club card today won't net you much headway at the airport or the customs office, but it tells us where your values are.
Even more beautifully naive was Beaver. He may have been younger than Archie but he had those same endearing characteristics one of which was honesty. There is always safety when you can rely on your friends to say what they think. Our children classified their classmates as bady-bads, goody-goods and normals and claimed they were normals. I would have been more than satisfied with Beaver or Archie.
The school principal said to Beaver, " Why do you want to be a garbage collecter when you grow up Beaver?" He replied, " Well, You don't have to wash your hands so much, and people don't mind if you smell." It's clear that Beaver was not quite ready for Betty or Veronica at that point but the candor he displayed would eventually give Archie and most of the rest of us a run for the money.
It seems to me that both of tthem will likely roll into adulthood becoming reliable without becoming sly, macho and slick.
Even though Archie struggled with the usual trials and temptations he seemed to effortlessly overcome them with his continuing good nature. What's not to love? Certainly the Archie Club card today won't net you much headway at the airport or the customs office, but it tells us where your values are.
Even more beautifully naive was Beaver. He may have been younger than Archie but he had those same endearing characteristics one of which was honesty. There is always safety when you can rely on your friends to say what they think. Our children classified their classmates as bady-bads, goody-goods and normals and claimed they were normals. I would have been more than satisfied with Beaver or Archie.
The school principal said to Beaver, " Why do you want to be a garbage collecter when you grow up Beaver?" He replied, " Well, You don't have to wash your hands so much, and people don't mind if you smell." It's clear that Beaver was not quite ready for Betty or Veronica at that point but the candor he displayed would eventually give Archie and most of the rest of us a run for the money.
It seems to me that both of tthem will likely roll into adulthood becoming reliable without becoming sly, macho and slick.
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