Sunshine

I took the tiny dictator out for a short walk today.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm but not too humid or unpleasant.  We started around the block, and when we got to the building behind us, we ran into several of Jerry’s dog park buddies who were liming outside.  Jerry was super excited to see them, and was wriggling with happiness (Buster was happy to see him too, and tried humping him a few times!  Jerry just ignored him and went about his excited wriggling). I was glad to see the guys also; it’s been months since I last saw them, so it was nice to catch up.  It was hilarious, too — when we were leaving, Sasha, one of the dogs, came with us almost to the corner, as though she was coming home with us!  We had a good laugh about that, and it took a little while for her to go with her human and leave Jerry.  She loves him and always tries to protect him, and he loves her too. Don wasn’t feeling great, and he was at home resting while we were out.  

I was reading some older books recently (written and published between WWI and WWII, and during WWII) and I was struck by how some things have changed dramatically, while some others haven’t, or at least there’s enough commonality that the stories are relatable.  For instance, how people deal with changes, and their behaviours when they’re under pressure.  We’ve always dealt with change, and some people do better than others.  I was also amused at the grumbles about the “waywardness of youth” and how children are worse than their predecessors.  I’ve heard a lot about how kids are so unreliable and mannerless these days (I may or may not have expressed that opinion myself.  I can neither confirm nor deny any such statement from me 🙄🤪). Going further back, Homer (the Greek poet) complained that the youth of his day were “degenerate wastrels”  So clearly, if we follow that line of thinking, for over 2500 years children (and by extrapolation their parents) have been worsening steadily, and apparently endangering civilization in the process!  I can’t imagine what someone from Homer’s time would think of modern youth (well, I can guess that he would call them soft, as they aren’t trained as Athenians were back then, or worse, Spartans) or what any of the Caesars would think, if Shakespeare’s “you blocks, you stones…” speech was reasonably accurate for 2000 years ago!  But even a century ago, expectations for children were significantly different from modern Western parents.  That’s leaving aside the ubiquitous technology and TVs, etc.  Just the expected behaviours and the stages at which we looked for them. Where am I, the one with no kids, going with this?  It is that we’ve changed.  Something that would have horrified society even as recently as when I was in school is hardly enough to elicit a gasp today.  Where we were horrified at the thought of an “unwed mother” we’re much less inclined to be judgemental now.  Or am I fooling myself?  I’d like to think that it’s because we’ve improved in compassion, and are less inclined to ostracize a girl for pregnancy than we were.  There are groups who will “mourn” the “looseness” and “immorality”, but far more who will accept and love the little one.  We no longer make a distinction in inheritance between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” offspring, which is a good thing, since the child had no option in their birth!

It’s easy enough to lament changes from the past, but I think that there’s more to celebrate in the changes.  We’ve cycled through “cooking is women’s work” to “cooking is drudgery” to “cooking is an essential life skill that everyone needs” (good thing!) and have mostly eliminated the concept of “women’s work” and “men’s work” to just “work.”  A century ago, women were only gradually being admitted to the worlds of business and academia, and there were those who thought that too much learning “ruined” a woman’s femininity. 😳. We’ve seen advancements in women’s athletics, where we were not supposed to “have bulging muscles” or be able to compete against men.  I’m hopeful that the artificial barriers to women’s sports and pay equity will soon be a thing of the past.

All that being said, I’m shocked and horrified at the upswing in sentiment of those who’d prefer to see us return to life in the 1900’s where women had no rights, where children were supposed to be “seen and not heard” when they weren’t being expected to work long days to help support their families.  I’d like to think that there are enough of us who do not want to give up our rights to vote out candidates who want to take them.  It’s distressing how wide spread nationalistic movements are, and more so that they all want to limit the rights of minorities and marginalized groups under the pretence of “restoring” the past.  There are elements of the past that seem to be worth retaining, like spending family time together and caring for elders at home, while others can fade into the past (the “women’s work” concept for one!) It would be so good if we continued to improve our society, preferably without backsliding too far!

OK, the soapbox has been out too long.  I’m off.  Good night!