So, this time I’m starting today
even though it probably won’t get posted until tomorrow. Unless I decide to do
two today. We’ll see how it goes.
I posted earlier today on
Facebook this: “I think that we do not live in the real world. We live in an artificial
construct and most people have no idea what 'real' is.” I believe this.
In the real world, people
grow/raise/hunt/gather their food. They give birth when the baby is ready to be
born. They build what and when they need, they make what they need when they
need. In the real world, life is governed by four things: food, shelter,
clothing, and faith. We do not live in a real world. We live in a world that is
governed by money and schedules.
Our children are each only
physically born once. That birth tends to be dictated by money and schedules.
How can doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies get more money out of this
woman who is pregnant? How can this birth happen in time for the doctor to go
on vacation or end his/her shift? That birth tends, in the United States, to
happen in a hospital. That birth tends to be medicated and has a 1 in 3 chance
of being surgical. That birth probably will not happen in the real world.
In the real world, that birth
would happen when it is supposed to happen. When the mother and the baby are
both ready, physically if not emotionally, the birth occurs. That birth should
happen in the most ideal way possible. And by ideal, I do not mean by elective cesarean
or even necessarily in a hospital but certainly not on a time-table or as
dictated by money and a schedule. Ideally, I think there should be hospitals
with trained people inside who can save the mother and/or baby if that becomes
necessary.
In the real world, our lives
would be dictated by the seasons rather than a work schedule. I hate Paul’s schedule.
He is almost never home for dinner. He has to plan in advance for anything. I
hate school schedules (and we’ll get to more about school later). Why does a
child in the United States have to learn to read by the time that child is done
with kindergarten? Why? Give me one good reason. Just one. And it had better be
a darn good one. Backed up by provable fact, not the fiction that is free for
all out there.
In the real world, we would be
getting ready to begin a garden soon rather than planning what vegetables to
buy at the store tonight. In the real world, we would be getting ready to have
baby goats rather than buying milk from the store today (actually, we are getting ready to have baby goats).
In the real world, life would look a lot different than it does right now.
I think I was spoiled by having
midwives when it was time to have my babies. I saw the same midwife and assistant
during pregnancy, the same midwife and assistant were at the birth. The same
midwife and assistant were present for the entire labor and birth, there were
no shift changes. I think I got a taste for the real world and I think this
artificial construct we live in leaves a really foul taste in my mouth.
I am sorry if that seemed rather
disjointed. I think that the artificial construct that we live in and think is
real is rather disjointed. So many of us have these jobs that require us to be
gone for large portions of the day and then we go home to a family. This family
needs more of our time and energy. Some of us are very good at maintaining a
schedule. Some of us are not. Some of us don’t mind having our time used up by
the mundane things in life (I’m thinking laundry, dishes, cleaning house, etc.)
while others of us would love to have more time to do things that we really
enjoy (you know, like knitting, spinning, sewing, playing racquetball [that’s
Paul], skiing, etc.).
When did we start having to be gone
for large chunks of time during the day? When we, as a civilization, began
gravitating from a largely agricultural way of life to a more industrialized
way of life. When did we start having to send our children away for large
chunks of time to school? Public education as we know it is thought to have
begun in the 1800’s. When did we start thinking that we have to have something
for our children to do constantly? That’s a good question. Is it when we
started moving away from the land and into the city? Is it when we thought both
parents had to be gone all day working a job? When? And why?
School. It was good enough for
me, it’s good enough for my kids.
Well, for one thing, I don’t
send my kids to school. They live in the goat shed and yard and in the back
field. Their mothers give me milk. We’d like to teach one to be a pack goat
this year.
For another thing, when did you
go to school? In the 60’s? The 70’s? The 80’s? Is life the same now as it was
then? Are they teaching the same things now that they did then? I believe the
answers to these questions are a resounding NO and NO. I am a product of the 70’s
and 80’s. I think teachers were allowed to teach then. At least more than they
are now. Now they have to teach this common core crap. Want to keep students in
the US from achieving on standardized tests when compared to students from
other countries? Keep shoving this dross down their throats.
Stop filling up their heads with
a lot of rubbish that they likely won’t need when they’ve become adults. Stop
forcing my square child into a round hole. Honestly, even thinking about this
makes me want to use language that I don’t use.
And then there is the subject of
dishwashers. Don’t get me going on that one, either. I just can’t handle the
stress of it right now.
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