What We Don't Remember

Most people can't remember when you dialed a phone that a local number was 5 digits, or that there were party lines and if someone was using the line you had to wait and others could listen to your conversations. I have had young people ask me how to use a rotary phone. Yes I still have one!

Fewer people remember a time when there was no indoor plumbing and you had to use a hand pump outside to fill buckets to bring in for drinking, cooking and cleaning, and had to walk out in the middle of the night to the outhouse.

Fewer yet remember that turning on the light meant lighting an oil lamp or candle.

Oh this magical thing called electricity! Look what it has done to us.

We travel faster. We talk faster. We live faster.

Is this really a good thing?

Yes, as I sit here using electricity talking to you now, and you use electricity reading this, it makes us all hypocrites if we think it is a bad thing. But let us look at how it has affected us for a moment both good and bad.

The good.

We can learn more faster with a keystroke, finding solutions to problems that we may not have been able to come up with on our own.

We can stay up as late as we need to and not worry about the oil running out in the lamp and not being able to see through the darkness.

We can talk to loved ones whenever we want to by pushing a few buttons.

Our lives can be extended by machines.

Our food can be brought to us from farther away, faster than ever, and taste fresh.

We can listen to music without having a musician anywhere near us.

We can have clean clothes faster and easier than before.

We can preserve food easier and keep leftovers longer.

Water comes to us, in our homes, to drink, cook and flush away what we discard.

Speaking of discarding, our garbage just goes away.

Travel is much faster.

We can see sights around the world without even being there.

We get our news instantly.

Even our food  is planted, harvested, processed and put on our table with little effort to us.

But what exactly have we sacrificed?

What kind of changes would we see if it all stopped?

Well, things would be far from cozy and you know it!

However, we would find some things would happen that we might not expect.

The bad.

All of this technology has actually driven a wedge within families. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own little electronic world that the people that should matter the most to us are being pushed aside. We don't talk to each other like we used to. We don't use our creativity and push our talents. We don't spend as much energy on really learning things. Literally the list of what we have lost is endless. We just don't remember it.

Without TV, computers, ipods, phones, stereos, lights, running water, flushing toilets, stores, ATMs, credit cards, checks, automobiles, stoves/microwaves, AC/furnaces and the many other things we enjoy, what happens?

Well, for those that have never lived without, I guess you would be crying a lot. Most would not have jobs to go to. So you sit at home (if you are lucky enough to be home) and do what?

Just because you no longer have an employer it does not mean you won't have work to do. It will just be a different kind of work than what you are used to, and most likely harder.

If there was an EMP event you would see large groups of mostly young people (we are now seeing as "flash mobs") start looting stores. Foolishly grabbing up those high end electronic devices which are never going to work even when the power comes back on.

Some that are a little brighter, will hit the grocery stores and clean out the shelves there.

The ones that are a little smarter will have their packs on and will be on their way out of the city, some with no clue where they are going.

Some will have made arrangements with others out in the country to have a place to go to.

I know that there will be many people in remote locations that will be well stocked and very well armed (at least in the USA) that will most likely have ambush plans in place for intruders.
There will be several smaller towns and cities that will be organized and send out many armed citizens to help protect their area farmers against raiders, and also to work the fields.

The mobs will not be tolerated and strangers will not be trusted.
So I recommend that if you are in a bigger city, to make friends with your neighbors and the farmers that are farther out from you and make a plan to go there to help defend the farms or offer some other service to them (such as spinning fibers or churning butter) in exchange for food and a place to set up shelter, and to do that soon! Don't wait.

Children and Teens would soon get bored out of their minds without their little electronic baby-sitters.
If there is no one to guide them we will see a whole new kind of "rat" as we see with the "flash mobs". If you value your child please grab them now and get them under control, otherwise you are just raising worm bait.

I just can not stress enough that if you value your children, family or even yourself, you owe it to them and yourself to show them the importance of being compassionate, trustworthy, self-reliant and a hard worker. To find ways to solve problems through thinking. To learn how to not make matters worse.
Tough times do not demand tough talk. Just action.

We may have to rely on technology of the past that we no longer remember and it will be a hard adjustment for everyone. Even for those that have studied and lived it, because we will have to factor in those that do not know these things and only have the ways of the streets to fall back on as they will either need to be turned from those ways or be "left by the wayside".

 Even if it isn't an EMP it could be a social or financial collapse (as was seen in Argentina) that can do the same thing to us. We must be prepared to share our knowledge to help others and bring people together, and also to be ready to defend our families and communities against those that are a threat to us, and to try to distinguish who is that threat.

We must not let ourselves be divided by petty differences. That only makes us weaker.
Your beliefs, thoughts, feelings, skin color and preferences can be different from mine, but at the end of the day, if we work together in peace, we all go home and live in peace.

So work on being a peacemaker. There is much more to gain from that. I felt at this time that this is a very important topic. Some of you may not understand, others will. If not  now I hope it is not too late.

I am off now to work on more projects. I can't wait until the camera comes home but more so that sweet one that is using it.
You all stay cozy and thank you for stopping by!
Dee Dee