Self-sufficiency is nothing new. Practising it, for some, is.
The issue of not being able to look after yourself comes from a few thoughtless generations. Decades of not handing down a vault of practical, common sense teaching tools. Tools that are available to use for free from parents and grandparents.
These forgetful ones were born into a world of new ideas and technology. Bypassing important learning processes. Creating generations of people that haven't got foggy-clue-one how to do things for themselves.
Looking back, the old ways worked. It may have taken a little longer to get to the end result, but the fail-safe process was just that, fail-safe. Too much, too fast is where our world and lives have taken us.
I consider myself one of the lucky ones that remember how to do things the old-fashioned way when it’s needed. Times when the power goes out or a blizzard makes it impossible to go very far, if at all. Planting a garden and having the where-with-all to preserve its bounty to eat during the non-garden seasons.
We often talk of the old timers and the stories of how they actually survived. They had gardens, hunted for meat and chopped wood to heat their homes.
Communication happened at social events and when letters came in the mail. Ahh, there is still nothing like receiving a handwritten letter.
The world news? It was heard on the radio and read in newspapers. The later sometimes arrived a week or more after being published. Telephones? There were telephones, just not one in every room or household and definitely not in the pocket or purse of every individual.
We think owning material things is important. Through this, we have lost touch with the real things that should be important. It amazes me how many men and women don't know how to cook a meal and bake a cake from scratch. They can't sew a button on a shirt, change a tire or fill their window washer fluid. For that matter, there are a good many people that do not know where their food actually comes from. The correct answer is not a store.
Take some time and take stock of your life. Learn some of the old skills. Pay attention to the stories you hear from and about your grandparents. You will never know how rewarding it is to be able to look after your needs yourself if you don’t take the first step. Try it.
The issue of not being able to look after yourself comes from a few thoughtless generations. Decades of not handing down a vault of practical, common sense teaching tools. Tools that are available to use for free from parents and grandparents.
These forgetful ones were born into a world of new ideas and technology. Bypassing important learning processes. Creating generations of people that haven't got foggy-clue-one how to do things for themselves.
Looking back, the old ways worked. It may have taken a little longer to get to the end result, but the fail-safe process was just that, fail-safe. Too much, too fast is where our world and lives have taken us.
I consider myself one of the lucky ones that remember how to do things the old-fashioned way when it’s needed. Times when the power goes out or a blizzard makes it impossible to go very far, if at all. Planting a garden and having the where-with-all to preserve its bounty to eat during the non-garden seasons.
We often talk of the old timers and the stories of how they actually survived. They had gardens, hunted for meat and chopped wood to heat their homes.
Communication happened at social events and when letters came in the mail. Ahh, there is still nothing like receiving a handwritten letter.
The world news? It was heard on the radio and read in newspapers. The later sometimes arrived a week or more after being published. Telephones? There were telephones, just not one in every room or household and definitely not in the pocket or purse of every individual.
We think owning material things is important. Through this, we have lost touch with the real things that should be important. It amazes me how many men and women don't know how to cook a meal and bake a cake from scratch. They can't sew a button on a shirt, change a tire or fill their window washer fluid. For that matter, there are a good many people that do not know where their food actually comes from. The correct answer is not a store.
Take some time and take stock of your life. Learn some of the old skills. Pay attention to the stories you hear from and about your grandparents. You will never know how rewarding it is to be able to look after your needs yourself if you don’t take the first step. Try it.
Ann Edall-Robson
Author, Photographer, Lover of Life
"Capturing moments others may never get to experience."
Author, Photographer, Lover of Life
"Capturing moments others may never get to experience."
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