Thoughts from Crow Cottage (My Main Blog.)

crowbelle's Diaryland Diary

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We Have It Pretty Good

WE HAVE IT PRETTY GOOD...

Every now and then, like today, I have to remind myself how good I/we have it here. And by "here" I mean in the western world.

I get out of bed and dress, put the teapot of water on, and in an instant my water is boiling and ready to make my morning cup of coffee.

There are places where I would have had to get up, get dressed in multiple layers of clothing, slog outside down to the well, dip the bucket into the ice cold (or frozen over) well and haul up my water, then trudge back up the hill, possibly in snow knee deep, to the house, where I would have to gather firewood, light a fire, and put the kettle with the water in it over the fire and wait - who knows how long? - for it to come to the boil. That could all take upwards of an hour or two just for one cup of coffee, or tea!

Then I go upstairs to work, with my doggers beside me for company, in my oil-heated home, that is all paid for, snug as a bug in a rug and sit at my desk typing all day for my living.

In another time, or another land, I would have to go out looking for work, or food, as the case may be, all day long, maybe longer. I might have to kill some animal to bring home with me in order to survive - something that turns me right off at this point in my life - but someone has to do it, after all, if we are to eat meat, right?

Just getting clean every day is a slight ritual for me now. Hop into an instantly hot shower, lather up with deliciously smelling (lavender) soaps and shampoos, rinse it all off still with nice hot flowing water, towel dry and back into clothes, all within about 15 minutes, tops.

I don't have to go out and haul up the hill multiple pails of water, and then spend hours heating it to boiling over the fire in the fireplace, and then sit in the tub in the middle of the cold room and wash as quickly as possible before the water gets cold, with soap that it probably took me days to make from the animal fat that I had rendered from the animal I had killed and brought home to eat. Of course, the soap wouldn't have the sweet lavender fragrance that mine has today... it would probably be totally nauseating to the nose!

When I want to go somewhere to buy something, I just pop into my car outside, fire it up with a key, and off I go... complaining all the way thru bumper to bumper traffic until I arrive at my destination, none the worse for the wear.

Others may have to go out and unhitch the horse and slowly ride him into a town that may be 30 miles from home, just to get a few items for the home, but not too many because there's no wagon or rear compartment attached to the horse. Or worse still, I may have to walk the 30 miles to a nearby town to buy things. I may not have cash, either, and I may have to barter to get my goods, so that will have meant that I would have to have spent days, weeks, or months making or preparing items to barter with, such as linens or clothing hand made during the long cold nights, by the light of the candle or fireplace.

Today, talking to friends all across the globe means flipping on a button on the computer, clicking a mouse and away I go, to parts far away, communicating with all sorts of different people in different settings and cultures.

In another time, I might have had to build a campfire, and get a blanket that I probably wove myself and put it over the fire, and pull it away in certain patterns, I could send smoke signals to the neighboring camp or village to say hello to my friends "far away."


So many things we take for granted today. Life was, and still is, so hard for so many people, past and present. One just has to watch the news film of the victims in Africa to see that modern life hasn't caught up with all of us. There are still millions of human beings who are living a meagre life of strife, struggle, and toil. While we ease thru our lives with very little, if any, hard manual labor or sweat involved.

I'm not sure that remembering all of this will actually change the way I live my life, but I think it's good to recognize it now and then, to stop and say thanks for the comforts we do have here in our lives, and not to be too complacent about our fortune.

Anyone reading this is fortunate, because if you are reading this, you have access to some type of a computer, and that is so far advanced from the way of life for so many others, that it boggles the mind to realize the stark comparisons.

I guess I'm just getting ready to be in a mindset of thankfulness as our American Thanksgiving approaches within the next few weeks.

Tomorrow we will go to the poles and cast our votes for possibly a change in direction for our country - I certainly hope we do that, because things are not right in government at the moment here. They need to change.

It's time.

And it's time to be thankful for our blessings here in the West, and maybe to say a prayer for those who are still so far behind us and struggling.

Cheers,

Bex

10:48 am - 06 November 2006

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