Ten reasons I’m grateful I was born when I was:
* Antibiotics. Seriously. I know that, big picture, they’re probably working against us, but I love that my children likely won’t die of strep throat. While we’re on the subject, I’m in love with modern medicine in general, if we’re getting right to it. I’m pretty sure that one of us wouldn’t have survived Punkin’ Pie’s birth without well trained, well equipped medical professionals on the scene, and for that I am forever grateful.
* Automobiles. When we were in Williamsburg, we learned that the most ground that a single rider on a good horse could reasonably cover on good roads on a sunny day was about 40 miles. Were it not for a car, we would be entirely isolated from the world – it’d be tough for me to see Organic Mama and damned near impossible for me to see WeedWoman. LOVE my car….
* Civil rights. For all that this country still doesn’t have quite right, it’s a hell of a lot better than it was even just 50 or so years ago. I can own property, I can get an education, I can vote… and so can you.
* Electricity. This one includes all the wonderful things that are run by electricity; refrigerators, hot water heaters, ovens and the like. My grandparents remember having ice boxes. I’m grateful for my fridge, and for being able to flip a switch to turn on a light or open my heavy garage door.
* The internet. My job as a teacher is made MUCH richer because of the wealth of information and resources I have literally at my fingertips. I can have a biography of Hawthorne or a summary of an Ibsen play with just a few keystrokes – without having to get on my horse and travel half a day to the Land Grant University library…
* Movies. Whether at the theatre or on DVD, I really do love films, and I can’t imagine my life without them.
* Indoor plumbing. Added to this is the luxury of hot running water. Seriously? This is the biggest reason I hate camping – I have a great, deep, and abiding appreciation for the joys of flush toilets and hot showers in the morning.
* Telephones and email. Some will tell you that they dislike being so “connected.” Not I. I love being able to stay in touch with the people I care about, and I don’t feel confined by the access that people have to me, either. I can choose to not open the email or to not answer the phone. That’s why we have answering machines.
* Grocery stores. I love not having to be directly responsible for the production of my food. Many will tell me that this is actually a detriment to the global society, but I’m just as happy to not have to catch, kill, gut, and pluck my own chicken, thank you very much. I also really love that, as a New Englander, I have ready access to things like lemons with which to cook said chickens. Oh, and chocolate – let’s not forget the availability of chocolate….
* Radio and television – and, of course, the communicative devices of the internet. I really love having a varied array of media choices with which to learn about what’s happening in the world. I don’t necessarily think that the immediacy with which we get access to current events is a bad thing at all – though I do take issue with what journalism has become. I want the world to keep getting smaller, in fact; the more we learn about each other, the more we can understand about each other, the less trouble we’re likely to have (or make) with each other. I’m all for that.
Happy Tuesday, Everyone!
If everything else were the same but we had to catch, pick, grow, gut, kill, skin etc. everything we had to eat I would weigh 6lbs and be very cranky. It’s enough of a pain in the ass to me to cook now, imagine if I had to do all the prep before that? Thank goodness for grocery stores and farmer’s markets and community supported agriculture and stuff like that.
My number one reason to be grateful for being born when I was: Air Conditioning.
I did grow up without it in Louisiana, but I don’t remember being particularly miserable. We just turned on the attic fan and opened all the windows and then held really still.
But I cannot imagine going without it now. I may even have to have it in New Hampshire (when I get there!), for those days when it gets over 85.
I don’t know what I would do without the buzzy world of interconectedness we inhabit; with telephone (over the internet, yet) I can phone friends in England (I’ve not seen in 5 years), family in Canada and with a little added technology, I can SKYPE them!
And no, let’s not forget the chocolate.
Yahbut…without cars, modern communication, etc., you wouldn’t miss Organic Mama and WeedWoman, because you’d have probably never met them in the first place.
Bo has an excellent point.