Living In the Recent Past

REMEMBER THIS: Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Mark Twain

I was reading a blog recently where the blogger was writing as to why women spent so much time in the kitchen during the Dark Ages. Turns out that was the warmest part of the hut.

It got me to thinking of my own childhood and I asked my wife about her’s. I wanted to know if they had ever had a wood burning stove. Her family was in the country; my family was in the city although we were literally “on the other side of the tracks”.

We spent our first winter in a street car that was on the property. My mom cooked and heated the place on a wood burning stove. We had an outhouse for the first number of years. Remember, we were in the city.

After my dad built a two room house with some help from friends we graduated to a two burner kerosene stove. Still had the outhouse.

Young people today cannot appreciate the sacrifices our parents made to give us an education. And, if hard times ever come again (which they will, no doubt about it) will they be able to keep it together?

I wonder how many people under the age of, oh, 50 can bathe in a generous two gallons of water or use an unconventional toilet or cook over a small fire. I can exclude campers; they know a little of the primative life.

Being caught up in a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina or the aftermath of a devastating tornado is not the time to learn these skills.

MADD MEXX