A couple weeks ago, while sitting on the back porch watching the sky darken (incredibly early. The fading days of August are bittersweet) my husband and I got into a conversation about how things have changed over just our own lifetimes.
We talked of people that we knew when we were growing up, the ones who did leave an impression with us.
Their words and the way they did things.
My Granny and Grandpa, (an incredibly odd couple) were born ten years apart. Grandpa just after the turn of the 20th century.
They saw their country enter two world wars, survived the dirty 30's together.
The first television, and even radio were something they experienced, together.
My Mum, who has sadly also passed on used to tell me about old times she remembered. Watching the test pattern on the TV that only had a broadcast for a few short hours a day. It was just so amazing!
A TV cost more than many could actually afford. Same with furniture and the like.
Anything that was purchased was done with much consideration and forethought. The choices were also far more limited.
My husband, reminded me that his family did not even have an indoor bathroom until he was at least 12. They used a water pump in the kitchen and filled a large ceramic tub to wash up. If they wanted hot water, it had to be boiled. Considering that he is younger than I am (by a whole 5 months!) that is something to think about for me.
When they moved into a home that had running water, (with hot water too!) and central heating and an indoor toilet, it was like a whole different world to him.
Suddenly, everything became that much easier.
And also keep in mind, that his family was not all that unusual in the part of the world that he comes from.
After WWII, things didn't move along as fast and furious as they did here in North America. (parts of it at least)
When I was a kid, Christmas and Birthdays were really really big. Because we didn't get presents and toys at any other time of the year, I mean REALLY. Unless it was for some other truly momentous occasion.
My brother had an Etcha-sketch, I was very jealous of that. That thing was so cool, and hours could be taken up trying to draw anything with it.
We fought over it. The knobs broke off, and my dad made wooden ones to replace them.
Make it last. Make it work. You just ain't getting a new one.
We were not "poor". We were working class, but, that was the way that my dad was. His upbringing on a farm with 8 brothers and sisters made him think on the value of "stuff".
I do not think that we were all that unusual for the time. And before anyone thinks I am pining for the old days, they were not that long ago. We are in our mid 40's here.
When I was a young woman, things were shifting. I didn't have a VCR or a microwave or even a coffeemaker until my 20's, but all that changed swiftly.
Walmart was taking over the US markets, and commodities started getting cheaper. Not only in the monetary sense.
Planned obsolescence.
Remember the TV repairman? The shoe repair? All of those service jobs that no longer exist, or are few and far between.
Now, when something breaks it is often much more expedient to simply go get a new one. And the new one will probably break faster than the last one.
Or, we are convinced that the newer one will be better and more in keeping with what our friends have. We must have the newest and the biggest.
The newest big screen Tee Vee's are pretty much a standard, and yes they probably use less electricity than an old one. But. They are mass produced cheaply, far far away, they do not last nearly as long as the 25 yr old Zenith (like I have in the rec room downstairs) and they will be dumped soon enough. Literally dumped. The energy savings are most likely negated just by the manufacture.
Computers are the same. In order to run newer software and to surf the net, they plan to make new models every few minutes forcing people to just suffer through, or spend more money.
(Edit: I forgot the NSFW note. The air will be blue. Still funny though)
I am posting the Story of Stuff. (2007) Many have seen it, but it is simply the most amazing explanation of our consumer society.
And now, with so many out of work, so many underemployed, and so many over employed at two and three jobs for crap wages and no benefits....
The Corporations are making record profits, and the income gap has become more like an income canyon.....
We are now the disposable commodity. Large companies just eat us up and spit us out.
The only safeguards like unions have been gutted, and the other ones like regulations are being eroded as fast as the environment.
It is the same here in the Great white north.
Oh sure, we have our healthcare and some parts of the social safety net remain, but it gets less and less with each passing year. With Governments going all Austerical and deciding that we, the working people are going to pay the debts incurred by those playing fast and loose in the markets.
My Grandparents and Aunties and Uncles were all just plain Jane working class people. But they were far more valued as human beings in my mind. They held down the same jobs for many years with some sense of security and worth.
They took care of whatever they had, but they also took care of each other.
A few years back we (here at the Batcave) started living by some new rules;
If something breaks, see if it can be fixed. If you need to buy something, get it second hand if at all possible. (Except for underwear. :) If you need something new, you better be able to pay cash for it.
It has been an interesting way to live, there are no instant gratifications.
It took me a few months to get couches but we lived with the old old ones.
The "new" ones were in storage for a few years. The date stamps inside say 1991, but they were never used. They were beautiful and pristine, for a while anyway. (I have small kids in the house) And they were, free.
The cushions off the old couches are now used by the same small kids for playing and somersaulting in the basement.
The wood frame became part of a midsummer campfire.
The one thing I have noticed with all of this, is that my teens are far less consumer driven nowadays. In their early life things were far different. Everything was new from the store, and they expected it.
The little ones don't really know anything different. They have a fabulous toy collection gathered from the thrift stores, and we can afford to go out and get them clothes when they need them.
They get what they need for Birthday and Christmas gifts, and something they want. (within reason of course)
One of the favorite toys ever has been a bunch of wooden blocks my Husband made for the little ones. Leftover Kiln dried pine, (From a construction job he was on) with no chemicals, cut precisely, and sanded on the edges.
And this tower is made of assorted blocks gathered from the thrifts. One of my clever girls made it, and I thought it looked familiar.....
We talk about where things come from and where they go when thrown away, and it is a major decision to actually decide when something is worn out. And a fun exercise to think on new ways to reuse items.
At the same time, we also want them to become more liberated from piles of "stuff".
Will the way we do things make our children more thoughtful of the value of things? That there are better priorities than the newest toys and keeping up with their peers?
We also talk about politics and news with the kids. (within their own abilities depending on their ages) They will probably never vote conservative, but they will vote.
My oldest voted for the first time this year. We went to the advance polls together for the Federal election. (Yes, I teared up) and he was completely prepared when he did not receive his voting package in the mail when our Province recently had a referendum. He made damn sure his vote was going to be counted.
We are also trying to teach them the value of people.
In a disposable society, where on cable TV the US Republican front runners are cheered for supporting the deaths of many through withholding even healthcare, and the death sentence is cause for celebration, where lies that are told by our "trusted" elected officials are let pass, it is going to be a harder task to raise caring and compassionate young people who know the value of things.
My plan next week is to contact the food bank and see if I can get involved there. I am now an empty nester of sorts, the last one entered Kindergarten this month.
I really should put my money where my mouth is.