My mother shared her experiences after seeing our neighbour’s hanging up laundry on the island. She was surprised to see them do this since she remembers in her youth what a chore it was. “The worst was when you had to wash jeans, I hated doing jeans.” she said as she reminisced of her Fort-George days. Her granddaughter replied: “Now all you have to do is put them in one machine and then another.” My mom agreed and told us she never imagined she would be able to do that, use a machine. I answered: “because you never thought you would be rich enough to own a washing machine right?”
It’s funny how when you are younger and new technology comes in and you think that you would never be one of the privileged ones to own one. My technology that seemed unattainable to me back when I was a young parent with low income was a personal computer. Imagine that, a computer so we can surf the internet. The internet was still somewhat a novelty and personal computers seemed so expensive. Desktops were quite pricey for a young family such as ours and a laptop seemed impossible to get unless you were some corporate big shot. Nowadays I own a small laptop that can fit in my purse, we have desktop computers, iTouch, iPhone, iPad, handheld games that can surf online. Things that I never imagined I would own someday.
Back to life on the island of Fort-George; Can you imagine that it was my mother’s generation that lived without running water and electricity? How they had to go fetch water for the family? How they chopped wood to cook and warm up the home in the winters? How they had to find ways to entertain themselves on those long winter nights?
I may sound like an old fart here, but today’s kids have it easy, too easy perhaps. My son complains on how he’s bored on the island. There is no TV. or games to entertain him after he’s drained the battery on his handheld game. My daughters with their cell phones and mp3 music to keep them busy when their friends are not around to hang out with. These are privileges that our kids seem to think are the norm, so they take it for granted. It’s our responsibility as a parent to remind our kids to be grateful for the things they have and the things we provide for them.
Remember the saying your parents, grandparents said about walking to school in 6 feet of snow, uphill, both ways? I do. I used to roll my eyes at my parents when they would claim hardships of their childhood and how we have it good. I now catch myself telling my kids the same thing and catch them rolling their eyes at me. I then realize that I am growing up and maybe becoming an old fuddy duddy myself. That also means I am becoming a little wiser, no? I appreciate the sacrifices my parents did for me and if I am doing that, it gives me hope that someday my children will appreciate the sacrifices I do for them.
So that saying of walking in six feet of snow to school? I believe them.