Racer 5 Ramblings

I've been thinking a lot about what we, as a society, have given up in the past fifty years. As a 28-year-old woman on her way to law school with a strong interest in sports, of course I am glad for the progression, in many people's minds, of what women can and can't do. Yet I can't help feeling that, in our pursuit to make women equal, we've lost some of the heart and soul of the household, and even the heart and soul of the community.
Last week I bought an iron, an ironing board, and a drying rack. For Christmas, my uncle gave me a sewing machine and lessons (last night I made a pillow-ten points if you guess what colors it is!). I have a mortar and pestle and a coffee grinder, but no bread machine. I'd venture a guess that I am in the minority, however. Most people want convenience.
Where does that convenience get us, though? We're losing both art and craft. We work so hard to buy accessories for our leisure time, but so much of our leisure time is spent trying to get ourselves feeling well. We buy, buy, buy what we used to create. And our items are disposable, so we don't teach ourselves the proper care for those items. In fact, even our homes are disposable, so the lack of care reaches our neighborhoods--we don't take the time to speak to neighbors, we turn a blind eye to the trash in the gutter, we don't know the names of the children down the block.
I realize we can't turn back the clock, and I don't think I'd want us to. I like that I can open a checking account or pursue a job in sportswriting or sit back with a beer with the boys. But I think it's time to start considering the changes that need to be made, not just in our own homes but in our society. It's time to go back to food--to gardening, to preparing, to canning and to preserving. It's ok to have someone stay home with the children; in fact, studies show it's optimal. Spending time hanging laundry outside, or chatting with a neighbor, or baking our own bread--these are the things that enrich our health, our communities, and our environment.
Our country is so focused on its unemployment rate right now that no one is thinking outside the narrow box of job creation. What if we stopped demanding McMansions and three cars per family? If we could grow some of our own food, if we could walk to the places we visit regularly, if we were able to care for our own children...well, wouldn't this reduce the amount of money needed by a family? Obviously I realize that there are families in our nation in desperate need of jobs. But if we keep failing to teach basic skills, this downturn is going to perpetuate a cycle of desperation. Let's step out of it instead. Learn to cook, learn to bake, learn to sew, learn to build, learn to mend. Learn something that will save a dime or two rather than focus on simply earning it.