I’m reading the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy for the second time, while I wait for the movie to come out.  He also wrote No Country for Old Men, the film that won Javier Bardem a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.  The Road is a bleak tale of survival that follows a father and his young son as they try to eke out an existence in a post-apocalyptic world.  It’s a disturbing story, tracing the descent of mankind to cannibalism in order to survive.

So, now that I’ve depressed you, I’ll try to glean something positive out of the novel.  One part struck me, a line by the son to the father about telling the truth.  Camped under a plastic tarp to escape the falling snow, the father makes his son hot cocoa, and limits himself to hot water.  The son doesn’t want any special treatment, and is upset about his father’s self-denial of even rudimentary things.  Here’s the exchange:

In a pocket of his knapsack he’d found a last half packet of cocoa and he fixed it for the boy and then poured his own cup with hot water and sat blowing at the rim.

You promised not to do that, the boy said.

What?

You know what, Papa.

He poured the hot water back into the pan and took the boy’s cup and poured some of the cocoa into his own and then handed it back.

I have to watch you all the time, the boy said.

I know.

If you break little promises you’ll break big ones.  That’s what you said.

If you break little promises you’ll break big ones.

How true.  How many little promises have you broken that have led to big promises being broken?  I’ll just have one piece of cake, then I’ll go back on my diet.  I’ll surf the web for an hour, then I’ll do my homework.  I’ll just tidy up my desk, then I’ll put together that report.  I’ll use my credit card just this once, then I’ll pay cash the next time.  A little backsliding here and there can sabotage your productivity.  I know.  Just read about the weight that crept back on from my breaking little promises.

Your mission today: Don’t break little promises to yourself.  Stay strong.  Follow the path that you’ve set out to achieve your goals, whether they be physical, financial, or work-related.

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