Generational differences of lifestyle
When I was a child, we wasted nothing. If something broke, it got fixed rather than thrown out. We drove cars until the wheels fell off. We didn’t call in or use a specialist to fix things either. My father was a “jack of all trades” and fixed everything. He fixed leaky pipes, put the new roof on the house, repaired the heat pump, changed the oil in the cars, fixed the radiators when they went out. I even recall helping him change brake shoes and doing body work to patch rusted holes in the car body.
Today, we have no idea how to fix things ourselves. Products are made to not last forever any more, and it’s often cheaper to buy new than to fix. And so we have been trained to use and dispose, and we have become beholden the the manufacturers and repair specialists. We now live in a disposable society.
Whatever happened to the old saying, “waste not, want not”?
Mike Riley 5:04 pm on July 24, 2010 Permalink |
Laura, You asked, whatever happened to the old saying, “waste not, want not”? It went out with the advent of welfare. For an example, the food that our children waste in our public schools could feed every hungry and homeless person in America. We’re the most wasteful country in the world, because of the abundance of material things.
Let it come another 1929-30, and that mindset will all change.
Laura 6:37 pm on July 24, 2010 Permalink |
Oh, and I failed to mention that we had our own 1/2 acre garden that my brothers and I worked all summer long. We ate out of it and put up food for the winter. We had chickens so we had fresh eggs. All we really had to buy was breads, fresh fruits, and meats. So another difference: kids in my generation were still, to some degree, expected to work to help the family. I don’t see any of that today.