4 Things I’ve Learned From Downton Abbey
What the Crawleys and their servants can teach us
I came late to the Downton fandom, but when I did, I jumped in with both feet! I have watched the series twice through now and the first movie twice as well. Needless to say, I am waiting breathlessly for the next movie.
That said, I wanted to share with you a few things I learned from the series.
There are many kinds of love
Don’t miss out on your “great love” out of fear or indecision. Mary & Matthew came quite close to losing each other countless times. Thank goodness they eventually came to their senses! Well, sort of. They were outside in the snow when Matthew finally proposed properly. At any rate, when the final loss did come it was a harsh lesson to never take love for granted.
Don’t let ego get in your way
So many times Robert lost, or nearly lost because he led with his ego. He nearly lost Downton because he believed he knew best when it came to investing. He nearly lost quite a lot of money at poker because he believed he could handle himself pretty well, despite being warned about the ruthlessness of one of the other players. Who turned out to be a cheat, btw. And of course, they lost Lady Sybil because Robert believed the doctor with title knew more than the country doctor who had known Sybil her entire life. Ego killed Sybil. And preeclampsia.
Loss can be crushing or motivating
Mary mourned Matthew before finally taking up his cause of estate management. Isobel turned her grief into motivation to help lift someone out of the workhouse and into a better life.
Be nice to the people you work with
They can manipulate circumstances and people and get you hired, fired or imprisoned and out of options. Need proof? Look at almost everything O’Brian and Barrow did. Manipulating schemers, right there.
One of the reasons so many of us love everything Downton is because despite the era it is meant to portray, there are a good many similarities between their lives and our own.
We’ve all loved and lost, a pet or family member. We’ve all made mistakes and suffered through tragedy and we all want to be loved and accepted. I pray we don’t approach that need like Barrow did though. *shiver*
Just be nice, folks.
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