Have you lamented recently about how work for its own sake was once its own reward but wonder what happened to that way of thinking?
Was your childhood like mine in that you were expected to learn and enjoy the marvelous experience of gaining knowledge? Why is it that we have more ways to obtain information today than ever before, yet our students are far less knowledgeable than their counterparts of twenty five years or thirty years ago?
Where did the thirst for general knowledge go? It used to be so enjoyable to talk with someone who had a good general knowledge, as we used to say. We tried hard to know a little bit about a lot of things. If you did you could be counted upon to be scintillating at parties and could mix with any social class without embarrassing yourself.
Is information overload responsible for the lack of interest in our world and other cultures, food, and a myriad of other topics or do we just not care because we see little chance to use these nuggets of knowledge in today’s world?
Where did the study of etiquette go? To see some diners wrestle their food into submission using primitive table manners seems such a waste of grace and élan. It is so sad to see many who have never tasted some vegetables, indeed, they can not even recognize most of them unless they have seen them on a burger or a pizza. The proud turnip or beet is looked at with suspicion, as is anything that fries are not made out of.
Weren’t family dinners around the table wonderful? All the family chatting as we enjoyed our meat and two veg dinners, with a small dessert for “afters”. Do you remember roast potatoes that were hand prepared from scratch, yorkshire pudding and rick beef gravy on a Sunday. Somehow, a pizza with everything doesn’t cut the mustard. When our lives were so interwoven with good food, our relationships seemed to be tastier too.
When TV dinners first came in, we worried about the decline of the family and our health. What would we have thought if we had foreseen the microwave and pot noodles as being our source of nutrition after a hard day at school or the office. They don’t seem to supply that satisfied, pleasantly full feeling of not that long ago.
As well as exams on knowledge that we need to obtain the best employment in this world, perhaps exams should also be set on the types and growing seasons of root vegetables. As well as setting time aside to work out at the gym, perhaps we need to set aside 30 minutes to eat at the table as a family and discuss our day. Rather than fall out of bed at the last moment, perhaps it would benefit us to wake twenty minutes earlier and have a short devotional to our higher power, or meditation to dwell on the beauties of this world and all the good things in our life.
We have so many things to be thankful for as we stand around the water cooler…sorry, the microwave. Where did our motivation to hold onto some of the old ways of doing things go? June Steed