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Acadec stuffsies
Jan. 15th, 2003 11:36 amOk. I'm preparing to draft the dreaded ....speech. Ms. V expects it today.
Unit 5624 wakes up, dresses in pre-made clothes, eats prepared food, and is off to a long day of welding the widgets to the wiggles. Unit 6524 returns, eats the standard distributed food, and goes to sleep.
Repeat.
While this may sound like some frightening vision of the future, like that delivered in 1984, the concept of doing nothing by one's own work is not so far-fetched. It's perfectly possible to have someone else sew and mend your clothes, grow your food, cook your meals, create even the personal decorations scattered around your house, leaving nothing for you to do but work to earn money and buy whatever else you need.
[train of thought derailed]
so why should you bother to do anyting for yourself? It's not necessary; almost anything one needs is readily availabe for purchase.
It's fulfilling. When you look at a scarf that you just finished knitting, there's such a sense of pride and almost wonder; fewer and fewer know crafts, and when you make something you think you're really cool.
It gives you more of a sense of purpose. You may not particularly like your day job; it may seem that it has no effect on anyone. But when you make something, you have a tangible product. You know that it counts. You know how much effort it took, and it makes you value it more.
Also, working by hand makes you appreciate others' efforts more. A few summers ago, I went up to visit my aunt, in the Central Valley. We decided it would be fun to pick blackberries. Hours later, after sweat, scratches, mosquito bites, and little purple dots tattooed into my fingers in blackberry juice, we didn't even have a half-flat of blackberries; what we did have seemed little enough for all the energy that we'd put into picking them. As we were driving home, we reflected that the pint buckets sold for maybe $4 in the store, and that little of that would go to those who picked them.
Not considering the labor it takes to make things is rather selfish, like you're saying "My time is worth more than your time." Actually going and working can hel you understand.
I'm not sayig go and be a subsistence farmer. I'm very appreciative of the comforts and efficiency that techonology has brought. BUt it has largely displaced handiwork, which is a shame. It brings fulfillment and pride, it can give an outlet for creativity, it keeps us from taking too much for granted. You don't have to do it all; knit, crochet, garden, learn to cook well, weave, or make pottery, or whatever you happen to enjoy doing, but do something. It's harder to become a nameless unit when you're in tough with making real tings.
Unit 5624 wakes up, dresses in pre-made clothes, eats prepared food, and is off to a long day of welding the widgets to the wiggles. Unit 6524 returns, eats the standard distributed food, and goes to sleep.
Repeat.
While this may sound like some frightening vision of the future, like that delivered in 1984, the concept of doing nothing by one's own work is not so far-fetched. It's perfectly possible to have someone else sew and mend your clothes, grow your food, cook your meals, create even the personal decorations scattered around your house, leaving nothing for you to do but work to earn money and buy whatever else you need.
[train of thought derailed]
so why should you bother to do anyting for yourself? It's not necessary; almost anything one needs is readily availabe for purchase.
It's fulfilling. When you look at a scarf that you just finished knitting, there's such a sense of pride and almost wonder; fewer and fewer know crafts, and when you make something you think you're really cool.
It gives you more of a sense of purpose. You may not particularly like your day job; it may seem that it has no effect on anyone. But when you make something, you have a tangible product. You know that it counts. You know how much effort it took, and it makes you value it more.
Also, working by hand makes you appreciate others' efforts more. A few summers ago, I went up to visit my aunt, in the Central Valley. We decided it would be fun to pick blackberries. Hours later, after sweat, scratches, mosquito bites, and little purple dots tattooed into my fingers in blackberry juice, we didn't even have a half-flat of blackberries; what we did have seemed little enough for all the energy that we'd put into picking them. As we were driving home, we reflected that the pint buckets sold for maybe $4 in the store, and that little of that would go to those who picked them.
Not considering the labor it takes to make things is rather selfish, like you're saying "My time is worth more than your time." Actually going and working can hel you understand.
I'm not sayig go and be a subsistence farmer. I'm very appreciative of the comforts and efficiency that techonology has brought. BUt it has largely displaced handiwork, which is a shame. It brings fulfillment and pride, it can give an outlet for creativity, it keeps us from taking too much for granted. You don't have to do it all; knit, crochet, garden, learn to cook well, weave, or make pottery, or whatever you happen to enjoy doing, but do something. It's harder to become a nameless unit when you're in tough with making real tings.
