Do you also feel that if one more motivational speaker on TV told you to count your blessings, you would gag? But, let's stand still for a moment and take a look at the modern conveniences that we have today, which we would have done without, if we were born, say 150 years, ago.
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Imagine being a mother and housewife in the 1850s. No real detergents, cooking over an open fire and a new baby every year.
We may today also have to deal with pollution and overpopulation and sub-woofers. But what are the things we should be most grateful for?
Proper soap. Imagine trying to keep yourself, your house and your clothes clean with no proper soap or household detergents. In effect, all you would be doing is to shuffle the dirt about. Grease-cutting detergents were unavailable and the only soaps available were mostly ineffective. People washed clothes in rivers and slammed them against the stones in an effort to get rid of dirt and stains. Imagine trying to do the dishes without grease-cutting detergents?
Medication. There are so many things we take for granted today. These include anaesthetics, vitamin tablets, painkillers, antibiotics, vaccines and antiseptics. Infections, unbearable pain, operations without anaesthetics and fatal childhood diseases were common. There were no headache tablets and chances of dying from infection after an operation were very high. People died, because their appendixes burst, because they got kidney stones, or because they got a small infection, which would today be treated with a short course of antibiotics. Be grateful, be very grateful.
Medical staff. Imagine being really ill, or having excruciating toothache and not being able to go to your dentist or GP. At least today in most countries, one can go to a state hospital or clinic of some sorts – OK, sometimes the travelling kind only comes around once a week, but at least it comes. You might have to wait hours in a queue, but relief or at least a correct diagnosis should come once you get to the front.
Contraceptives. It was the fate of women for many generations to have a baby every year. Either that or celibacy. Many modern women, if given the choice between having 16 children or join a convent, would probably opt for the latter. Today, planning a family is easy and costs nothing, if you get contraceptives from state family planning clinics. Imagine what 16 pregnancies would do to your body.
Disposable nappies. Disposable nappies may not be very environmentally friendly, but boy, imagine what it must have been like to deal with endless toweling nappies. Especially if you had more than one child in nappies. Those washing lines filled with toweling nappies billowing in the wind, tell a story of their own. And it's not a happy one.
Clean water. We can drink the water from our taps. It is clean and hygienic and we are not going to get some grim water-borne disease by doing so. What's more, the streets aren't filled with sewage, because we have toilets and waterborne sewerage. A blessing indeed, as pit latrines were also no fun. And very unhealthy to boot.
Cars. Many people don't have their own cars, but at least have access to buses or minibus taxis to get where they want to be. Cars not only provide us with a means to get to work, but also with a means to go on holiday or visit friends who live far away. Imagine having to walk miles to work every day.
Air-conditioning/heating. Log fires look romantic, but are messy, not very effective and do not really heat up the room. And they make your clothes stink. As recently as thirty years ago, air-conditioning was a rarity. All workers slaved away in hellish temperatures in the summer. Cars baked, shops were unbearable. Likewise, in winter, things were also uncomfortable. Before the advent of electricity, there were not many effective ways of heating up a freezing home.
Electrical household appliances. Imagine washing all your clothes by hand, having to sweep all the carpets, not having any way to refrigerate food, and having to light a fire when you felt like a cup of coffee. No more reheating of yesterday's leftovers, especially since you could not refrigerate them. Your life would be an endless series of household chores and never-ending drudgery. And the house still wouldn't really be clean.
Tampons. Tampons are unobtrusive, easy to use and a lot better than those pads with the loops. Remember them, or are you too young? Tampons are also infinitely preferable to what women used 150 years ago – an absorbent cloth, that was washed and re-used. Sounds like a lot of trouble.
Hairdriers. Before the days of hairdriers, there was little you could do to style your hair. There was a time when people used sugar water, which hardened as it dried, but it also meant you became a prime target for the insect world. Today there's no more staying in for an evening because you have to wash your hair – you wash and dry it in ten minutes.
Sewing machines. Imagine having to make garments by hand. It would take hours and unravel a few months later. Be grateful for your sewing machine, with which you can sew metres in minutes. And what's more, it doesn't unravel.
Telephones, computers and e-mail. The joy of communication. Now you can phone your mother-in-law and tell her you're going to be five minutes late. You can keep in daily contact with your brother in Ontario and find out online what you need to know about hotels in Hoedspruit, to which you're heading for the weekend. A century or two ago, you would probably have had to wait a month or two for the mail ship to do a round trip if you wanted to hear from a relative in another country. If you were lucky. And no sending SMSs or calling a friend just to chat.
Radio and TV. Don't feel like going out? So what's on TV tonight? At least there's the option. Those long road trips can be made tolerable by your car radio. TV and radio can keep you informed on world events, the weather, sport and so forth. And it's good for entertainment.
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