Dad
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
"‘Per Ardua ad Astra’. When Dad told me that it meant, ‘Through Adversity to the Stars’,"
"The twelfth share of Stjärnorp that each of us siblings owned corresponded to over a hundred hectares with normal mortgaging but in co-ownership. The difference between "real" ownership and co-ownership was clear early on. Dad and his brothers always had sharp opinions about each other when it came to Stjärnorp. There was no joy in that co-ownership."
"*Dad used to swear that the primary object was water safety training. He’d capsize periodically so I’d get used to righting the boat and get out from under it. But I learnt quickly that if you were winning a race or doing well, he wouldn’t try the water safety exercise. It was simple, if you were winning you didn’t get dumped; though Dad claims that wasn’t the lesson he was trying to teach me*.[2](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477196-607209396-2)"
"On a fateful day in 1978, a knock came at the door. Dad was in his study and a few men went in to sit with him. One of them was in the kitchen speaking to my mother. The atmosphere was sombre, but I found it hard to understand just how serious things were because I knew all the men from happy social occasions in our home. They were cool guys, with long sideburns. One of them came into my room and removed his glasses. The rims were so thick and heavy that they left a wide red line across the bridge of his nose. He looked me in the eye and asked if my Dad had ever been bad to me. ‘No,’ I replied. When Dad was drunk, he fell asleep. The man asked me if I was sad when Dad went drinking. I hesitated and said ‘yes’. He took me into the living room to sit down with my father and mother and the other men and explained that they were discussing whether Dad should go to a nice hospital for a few weeks to stop him drinking again. He then asked me: ‘What do you think Thor? Would you like Daddy to stop drinking?’ All eyes fell on me and I was surprised that they were asking me and that everyone was listening carefully for my answer. I said: ‘Yes, I would,’ and the room went quiet as my words sank in."