Chains of Convenience

 

    I love it when shows give me a fresh perspective.

    I started watching this Western series called 1923 (after watching 1883 of course). During this series, electricity was becoming a regularly used resource among the elite but was still resisted by those of lesser means. 

    One scene hit me like a ton of bricks.

    The family was in town, and there was a salesman with all kinds of appliances sitting out for display on the street. The men rode on by, but the women were intrigued and asked what they were for.

    Washing clothes, the salesman said. The older women scoffed at such a ridiculous-looking piece of machinery, but the younger women were curious, though wary. After all, why have that big thing in your house when clothes could be washed in a tub, with a metal board and bar soap?

    Then one of the men chimed in, asking how it worked. Electricity, the salesman answered. The man laughed, saying that made no sense. Doing it the old way was free, but doing it with the machine that had to use electricity meant they'd be working for the electric company, not themselves anymore, because there'd be a bill to pay every time you used it.

    I paused the show. Holy conglomerates, Batman, he was right!

    Think about it. Who do we really work for nowadays? Ourselves? No. We work to put money into other peoples' pockets. The energy companies. The gas companies. The cell phone company. The internet. The government. And all of it runs on electricity.

    Don't get me wrong—I love the stuff. It allows me to write on this blog (after more than a year...oops), run my car, and do everyday life. But in the beginning, they made us want it, then made us unable to live without it. All to save labor.

    Would anyone be willing to live without electricity in this day and age? Even most of the Amish are using it nowadays in the form of generators.

    No, I'm not blaming electricity for everything wrong in the world, but sometimes I wonder if we'd be better off without some of our 'creature comforts'.

    Communities would be stronger. Several generations of one family would live together and work together. Everyone would come running if you ever needed help. 

    There's a joke where a man was fishing on the side of the road, and a business man stopped by, asking the man what he does all day. He said he sit out in the sunshine until he catches six fish, sells two, and he and his wife and two children prepare the rest for dinner, singing songs and anjoying time together. The businessman told him all he needed to do was to catch more fish to earn more money, then he could buy a boat, start a fleet of fishing ships, and then retire a rich man. The man asked what he would do then? And the businessman replied, sit on the side of the road, fishing, enjoying the sunshine and time with his family...

    I think that's the reason people are running towards the homesteading life. Corporations have gotten so big and so bad for us, that the world as we know it is going to implode from their greed and laziness. 

    Homesteading is a lot harder (especially when you're older), but at least you know what's in your food, who your true friends are, and how to fix something if something broke. And if you didn't, one of your neighbors did and would teach you what to do for next time.

    Boomers are ignored as they try to give wisdom to their grand and great-grandchildren. What they remember is almost extinct. Their ingenuity will soon be lost to the ages, unless someone can find that eensy-weensy spot where lost secrets go on the internet.

    GenXers are the next in line to be ignored. We are the last generation that knew how to play outside, even in the rain, and rode our bikes to the corner store with our friends, getting candy from the penny candy vending machines. We're the last generation to freely use our imaginations with toys and Play-doh. Our books were something to be cherished and held under the blankets after bedtime as we read that last page under the glow of a flashlight so our parents wouldn't catch us awake. Computers came into schools around the time we were graduating high school, so the internet bug didn't hit us as hard as our lesser-graded peers.

    We resisted cell phones, home computers, and the need for any tech that wasn't a gaming system with cartridges. Eventually, technology was a disease we all willingly contracted, and now the contamination is so ingrained, no one realizes they're still sick anymore. I have little hope we'll ever be free of it, unless God Himself decides enough is enough.

    The sad part is, many of our children and grandchildren can program our phones and have access to a vast amount of information, but their brains are like 5-hour old oatmeal. Boomers and enXers cringe when we hear some of the 'wisdom' coming out of their mouths.

    I've heard more than my fair share of doozies.

    'We don't need gravity.' one young lady on the internet said. 'Issac Newton should've never invented it.'

    'We don't need trees,' said another. 'They take up too much oxygen.'

    'Cows need to stop being on farms,' said someone else. 'Methane is destroying the planet.'

    I just put my forehead in my hands and ask God to take me Home before these people run for office.

    If there was no electricity, I wonder where we'd be now? Or if the use of it was limited where there was no internet or computer games, would we be better off? Or do the homesteaders have the right idea?

    Wake up when it's light, sleep when it's dark, start fires when it's cold, and swimming in streams when it's hot? The trade off would be most of your time is spent growing and processing your own food, and crafting things to trade when you can't make them yourself, surrounded by family and friends.

    Think about that for a minute. Food, shelter, family, friends...isn't that what most of us want?

    Sounds like a good life to me! Anyone want to go fishing?