*WEEKLY RANT* The Progress of Civilization Our parents and grandparents may shake their heads every time we grab our smart phones to get turn-by-turn directions while on a road trip or use a calculator app to figure the tip after dinner in a restaurant, but when it comes to life skills, our great-grandparents have us all beat. Here are some skills our great-grandparents probably had 90 years ago that most of us don’t in this day and age. Courting - It’s highly likely that your great-grandparents didn’t have the option of dating at all. Until well into the 1920s, modern dating as we know it today didn’t really exist. A gentleman would court a young lady by asking her or her parents for permission to call on the family at their home. The potential couple would have a formal visit, with at least one parent chaperone present watching and listening at all times, and the man would leave a calling card. If the parents and young lady were impressed, he’d be invited back again and that would be the start of their romance. Hunting, Fishing, Foraging and Butchering - Even most city dwellers in your great-grandparents’ generation had experience hunting, fishing, and foraging for food. If your great-grandparents never lived in a rural area or lived off the land, their parents probably had. Being able to kill, catch, or find your own food was considered an essential life skill no matter where one lived, especially during the Great Depression. In our present time with boneless, skinless chicken breasts packaged at the grocery store, it’s unusual to have to chop up a whole chicken at home, let alone a whole cow. Despite the availability of professionally butchered and packaged meats, knowing how to cut up a side of beef or butcher a rabbit from her husband’s hunting trip was an ordinary part of a housewife’s skill set well into the early 20th century. This didn’t leave the men off the hook, though. After all, they were most likely the ones who would have to field dress any animals they killed or scale the fish. Bartering and Haggling - Before the era of shopping malls and convenience stores, it was more common to trade goods and services with neighbors and shop owners. Home-canned foods, hand-made furniture, and other homemade goods were the currency your great-grandparents could use in lieu of cash. Though it’d be futile for you to argue with the barista at Starbucks about the price of a cup of coffee, your great-grandparents were likely expert hagglers. Back when corporate chains weren’t everywhere, it was a lot easier to bargain with local innkeepers, tavern owners, shopkeepers and tradesmen. Chances are your great-grandparents probably bought very few things from a store anyway, or if they did, it was mail order from somewhere like Sears, Roebuck. Darning, Mending and Sewing - Nowadays if a sock gets a hole in it, you buy a new pair. But your great-grandparents didn’t let anything go to waste, not even a beat-up old sock. This went for every other article of clothing as well. Darning socks and mending clothes was just par for the course. Tatting, the art of making lace, was also a widely popular activity for young women in your great-grandparents’ generation. Elaborate lace collars, doilies, and other decorative touches were signs of sophistication. However, fashion changed and technology made lace easy and inexpensive to buy, so their children probably didn’t pick up the skill. The U.S. Mail - Obviously, your great-grandparents didn’t text or email, and neither did your grandparents or parents, either, for that matter. However, even though the telephone existed, it wasn’t the preferred method of staying in touch either, especially long-distance. Hand-written letters were the way they communicated with loved ones and took care of the majority of business. While it’s true that your grandparents were skilled in the lost art of writing in cursive, your grandparents probably were, too. However, the invention of the ballpoint pen in the late 1930s and other advances in pen technology mean that your great-grandparents were the last generation who had to actually refill their pens with ink when it went dry. Lighting a Fire Without Matches - Sure, matches have been around since the 1600s. But they were dangerous and toxic. They sparked wildly out of control and emitting hazardous fumes. A more controllable, non-poisonous match wasn’t invented until 1910. So the great grandparents had to know a thing or two about lighting a fire without matches. It actually isn’t all that difficult, it is just a lost art because modern society is spoiled by the easy availability of safety matches and disposable lighters. Diapering a Baby With Cloth - Disposable diapers weren’t commonly available until the 1930s. Until then, cloth diapers held with safety pins were where babies did their business. Great-grandma, grandma and possibly even your mom had a lot of unpleasant laundry on her hands. Imagine having to clean those diapers after the mess? Well, there are a lot more examples, but these are just a few things that “progress” has accomplished for modern civilization. Just think, if we ever do have the zombie apocalypse, don’t you think it might be advantageous to know how to perform some of the things listed above?
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 23:59:01 +0000
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