Book 316 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: Family Values!

Book – The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Book Description:

When Mario Puzo's blockbuster saga, The Godfather, was first published in 1969, critics hailed it as one of the greatest novels of our time, and "big, turbulent, highly entertaining." Since then, The Godfather has gone on to become a part of America's national culture, as well as a trilogy of landmark motion pictures. Now, in this newly-repackaged 30th Anniversary Edition, readers old and new can experience this timeless tale of crime for themselves. From the lavish opening scene where Don Corleone entertains guests and conducts business at his daughter's wedding...to his son, Michael, who takes his father's place to fight for his family...to the bloody climax where all family business is finished, The Godfather is an epic story of family, loyalty, and how "men of honor" live in their own world, and die by their own laws.

Reflection:

I’m a bit ashamed to admit this as an Italian American of Sicilian descent, but I’ve never seen any of the Godfather movies before. I obviously know of them, but for some reason I’ve never had any desire to see them before in my 38 years on this Earth. I couldn’t tell you why, it just is what it is (see what I did there – refer back to Reflection 308 and my recent rantings on how much I hate that phrase).

Knowing this, you won’t be surprised to find out that I didn’t even know The Godfather was a book first before it became a movie. I had no idea at all until I stumbled upon this thanks to an Amazon algorithm during a recent search for my next read. When I found this, I thought that there was no better time than now to dive into this famous story and decided to finally take the plunge into this American Classic. It didn’t disappoint, and I totally understand how it became such a huge hit. The Godfather is the only book to date on this journey that I audibly gasped a few different times as I was consuming it. Sonny Corleone’s death really caught me off guard.

I know officially understand what the pop culture reference’s I’ve heard for years of “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” and “Going to the mattresses” finally mean. Besides getting caught up on pop culture phrases I’ve been missing out on the past 38 years, the thing I will remember most from this book is the idea of Family Values!

Say what you want about the Corleone family, but the one thing you will never be able to say is that they aren’t people of values and practice what they preach. The Corleone family is one of deep principles and values that guide their every action and navigate how they engage with the world. Some of their most famous values is that of never letting them see you angry, omerta (a code of silence), reason first, don’t ever share your real thoughts with anyone outside the family, and graciously giving to anyone in their orbit that is in need of help (with the intent to one day call in a favor of their own should it be needed).

I may not personally agree with any of these values, but that doesn’t mean I can’t respect them for acting in accordance with what they value most in this world. I think this is exactly why people who watch this movie or read this book probably walk away feeling like they admire the Corleone’s. They may be murders and gangsters, but you will never be able to say they are liars. They tell you who they want to be, how they will live, and then they do it. Those family values and making sure their actions always align with those values are their real source of power because it is rare.

As my personal Year of Magical Learning begins to wind down over the next few months, I think is about damn time for me to make Family Values the focus of this next chapter in this journey. Emilia and I have spent almost 3 years now exploring our personal values and purpose, but we’ve left 2 important participants out of the equation in Luca and Felicia.

It is time for my own family to take a page out of the Corleone playbook and unite as one team with our actions guided by our collective values. That new journey can’t begin until my wife and I sit down and really discuss together what will collectively be our families’ values that we can all agree upon.

I look forward to the discussion!

Question: What are the values that guide your family life?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Godfather by Mario Puzo