Call me crazy but a simpler time without congested traffic, cellphones, computers, no commercialization of children to be sexy, and good home cooked meals sounds romantic to me sometimes......
The Romantic View of the Past is a Bunch of Happy Horseshit
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Call me crazy but a simpler time without congested traffic, cellphones, computers, no commercialization of children to be sexy, and good home cooked meals sounds romantic to me sometimes......
When I was in high school, I was very fortunate to have had a fantastic history teacher, Mr. Dreidger. Mr. Dreidger believed that the only way that a person was going to understand where they came from, would be for them to experience it. To that end, he taught us to harvest wheat, shear sheep, card wool, spin it into yarn. We harvested flax and turned it into linen. We cast lead buttons and bullets. Built muskets. Built a beehive oven and on one fine spring day, learned about lunch on the edge of the civilized world. We walked into class, and Mr. Dreidger was waiting for us."The year is 1740. You are living just west of the Cumberland Gap. It is lunch time. What will you eat?" After several failed attempts by the class to convince him that peanut butter and jelly would be a good choice, Mr. Dreidger reached under the podium and produced two Agway feed bags. The bags were moving. "If you were lucky...If you were very lucky, then you had chickens. Let's go." With that, the entire class marched out to an enclosed courtyard in the middle of the school where, in full view of the rest of our classmates, we proceeded to kill and butcher live chickens. In a suburban high school. 10 miles outside of Philadelphia.
I can promise you that every kid that was there that day remembers this story as well as I do. It wasn't fun, it wasn't easy. But we gained a deep appreciation for what it took to live back then. How, at the end of the day, you could look back and say: "This is what I did today, and this is why my family has food on the table. Tomorrow, I will do the same"
Don't make the mistake of thinking that we are living at the apex of human existence. We are not. Human progress is non-linear. To quote Mr. Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...."
I can promise you that every kid that was there that day remembers this story as well as I do. It wasn't fun, it wasn't easy. But we gained a deep appreciation for what it took to live back then. How, at the end of the day, you could look back and say: "This is what I did today, and this is why my family has food on the table. Tomorrow, I will do the same"
Don't make the mistake of thinking that we are living at the apex of human existence. We are not. Human progress is non-linear. To quote Mr. Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...."
Shit, this is a good thread- it has replenished my depleted faith in humanity. Rest assured Curl, most of us agree with you. However, there are rules to posting on this forum, and a couple of them are strictly enforced.
Keep fighting the good fight brother.
J.
Keep fighting the good fight brother.
J.
I have tried to stay clear of political threads recently after a few unfortunate incidents. I end up disliking folks I otherwise may have liked, and I end up boycotting vendors I might otherwise have enjoyed doing business with. However, this thread seems at least as much philosophical as political, so I will simply say this:
Talk is cheap. Change begins at home. Take stock of what you are changing before settling into your manifesto or creed. Change hurts. And we are a product of a culture defined first and foremost by the avoidance of discomfort.
Some say we are in a culture war. Perhaps they are correct and I might even agree.. But I remain skeptical of culture warriors who make war from their suburban armchairs.
If you don't like the modern cultural trajectory, and want to change it, start at home: homeschool your kids, shut down the TeeVee, grow and raise and hunt your own food, get your hands dirty. The stones that one may cast are always relative.
Talk is cheap. Change begins at home. Take stock of what you are changing before settling into your manifesto or creed. Change hurts. And we are a product of a culture defined first and foremost by the avoidance of discomfort.
Some say we are in a culture war. Perhaps they are correct and I might even agree.. But I remain skeptical of culture warriors who make war from their suburban armchairs.
If you don't like the modern cultural trajectory, and want to change it, start at home: homeschool your kids, shut down the TeeVee, grow and raise and hunt your own food, get your hands dirty. The stones that one may cast are always relative.
You can't. It's just math and demographics. When nearly 50% of voters are net recipients vs tax payers, this is what you get. That's the problem with universal suffrage. A twist on the old line might better be stated as no representation without taxation.
Wood said it best, We have found the Enemy and they is us. Mr Pogo I didn't know back then how smart you is.
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I like this place; I'm just here to learn about my new oral fixation.
But I was surprised and stung by the post in the other thread.
My only intent was to restore a some balance.
I'm moving on from my little faux pas to continue my quest here for pipe enlightenment.
But I was surprised and stung by the post in the other thread.
My only intent was to restore a some balance.
I'm moving on from my little faux pas to continue my quest here for pipe enlightenment.
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