When I was a kid growing up we didn’t have terms like ADHD,
OCD, ADD, and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Those things most surely existed,
but I think that those of my friends who may have had one of these disorders
probably got them solved by a good ass beating. I know the couple times I
exhibited the Oppositional Defiance Disorder, my dad’s belt defiantly beat that
little sucker out of me.
When we were kids we didn’t have playstations, xbox, or
gameboys. We did have Atari and that little thing that went back and forth on
the black screen. Computers were nothing like what we have now, cell phones? What
the hell were those things? Boy have we come so far…so far from those stone
ages, as well as so far from that kind of life that was so damn better for us.
Julie and I were driving to Agway to get some pine horse
bedding pellets (we use it for cat litter), and as we usually do when in a
vehicle we talk about a lot of different things. Today it was how much
different life is now than when we were kids growing up. I think that I had a
great childhood growing up. My parents instilled in me the skills and morals
that make me the man I am today. Though both my parents worked, I wasn’t babysitted
by the television, and the games I played were outside with other kids my age.
I was able to ride my bike down town to get a slurpee from 7eleven if I had the
money. We played in the creeks and fields around our houses. Life was grand.
Where have those days gone? Boy how far we’ve fallen from
that time period. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the technology that we have
today. Hell, without it I wouldn’t be typing this without it. We weren’t knocking
life today, too much. What Julie and I were saying is how we are drifting back
towards those days of self-reliance.
We’ve been gardening for the past couple years, canning the
bounty from those gardens, and enjoying the simpler way of life that this
offers us. As we continue on this path of self-reliance we notice that the
technological things we have are used less and less. The television has been
silent for the past 3 nights. Working outdoors in the garden and helping tend
my mother-in-laws sheep sunup to sundown has made for good sleeping at night. It
feels great.
We came to the conclusion in our debate while driving to and
from the Agway, life would be so much easier and healthier if we were to go
back to the way life was. Our ancestors worked hard for what they had, nothing
was handed to them like a lot of people these days. They grew and raised their
own food. Today people are so far removed from their food it isn’t funny. The other
day in a conversation, a woman said to me that she couldn’t eat an egg if she
saw a piece of fur on it. FUR?
Our ancestors knew how to grow and save the food they needed
to get through the hard winters. They were so more active than we are today (I
know that I am not one to talk being as I’m morbidly obese)but because of the
lifestyle they led, they were so much healthier than we are today.
What Julie and I are
working towards is a freer, healthier, self-reliant, and sustainable lifestyle.
I think that with the state of our Nation, we could all stand to learn some
lessons from our ancestors, and work for a better way of life.
