How important is convenience to you? Is it more important than money? Is it more important than time? As we all know, in centuries back, people did more hard work than we do today. Children walked miles to school. Nowadays, parents drive their children to the end of their driveway. Housewives carried water from a well, split firewood, cooked from scratch, as well as cleaned their houses, made their clothing, gardened and preserved the food. Not to mention raising their children, and helping their husbands raise the livestock and processing the meat and milk from them. Maybe that was one of the reasons for raising so many children. Extra hands were worth the extra mouths to feed since they had plenty of food anyway. The family worked together back then. Nice idea!
As time went by, the housewives' chores became easier and easier. Especially with the invention of electricity and processed foods. Most women made bread daily. Many loaves depending on the size of the family. When store bought bread came out, they loved eliminating that job, not to mention the appearance of the soft white bread. They gave up that chore without a second thought. Now if someone comes to your house, and you have just taken some freshly baked loaves out of the oven, it is special. They keep complimenting you about how good it is, and how you can't buy it that good anywhere. I know that!
Heating with wood, cooking with wood, cutting your own firewood is replaced by going to a job and giving your time in exchange for money. Then you pay for heating fuel or for firewood, however you buy it. So in the long run, how many hours do you have to work to pay for that firewood? Instead go out into the your woods with your crosscut saw (that does not use gas), and cut the firewood you need. Do it one day a week for four hours, all year long. You would build your supply, get exercise and cost less than a load of logs delivered to your home, which in NY, is over $600.
I admit to liking convenience myself. I think my choice of convenience is different than most people of today though. It is not that I am living old-fashioned as everyone thinks I am. Not at all. It is really more in the future than you may believe. Though I see the things that come to be, when we are too dependent on services and products, and how it will effect mankind in the future. Not a pretty sight once you really start learning about it. At least try to provide some ways to do things, if there is no one to do it for you. No one to pay for the service you need. Make a list of all the things you are dependent on, and couldn't live without. Then figure how you would manage without those items. What you would do if the service you paid for stopped.
I have been reading a book on my kindle that really brought it home to me. It is a fiction book, but the author presents it in such a way, that it will make you think twice about the very things we are so concerned about. Giving up the choice of taking care of ourselves for the convenience is one of the main focuses in this story. The name of this book is,Dark Mountain
and is written by Andrew Culver. Today it is free in the Kindle store, but won't be for long. I wrote a review of it for Amazon and I compared it to the book, 1984 by George Orwell.
I am not trying to scare you. Just trying to make people think for themselves and not give up their independence for the easy way of life. Sometimes it is not so easy after all.
Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole
4 comments:
I couldnt agree more - considering your definition of convenience. My own was and is different. How much this opinion is influenced by my culture too, I wouldnt know. Convenience for me cooking form scratch and therefore knowing what is in my food and having the connection to the ingredients which I love to grow myself as much as possible. Again it means I know it is not gen-manipulated but for sure locally. Both "activities" add to my sanity, hence convenient. That were just 2 examples. Love and hugs up North
My wife made the choice to stop working 80 plus hours a week each (owned business) which intern maid slaves to money do enlarge to paying for convinance. And raise our own kids the lack of income (living on a lot less now) creates work at home (gardening, preserving, etc) that we due as a FAMILY our children grades r threw roof, and we know each other now. There's more and benefit to this we discovery almost daily like the health aspect now we are eliminating processed foods, gmo raised foods etc we love and are not turning back
Excellent, thought provoking post, going to see if the book is still free for Kindle! ;)
Way back when, when did they have time to text or play video games? Just kidding. I worry if the kids now a days would know how to walk to the neighbors to talk face to face.
You offer such good down home thought provoking inspirations. Malika
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