Hygiene. Soap and water are cheap and plentiful in our society. We no longer get diseases from filth in the street or doctors not washing their hands before surgery.
Relative lack of pollution. It's not just that we no longer leave human or transport animal waste in the streets, but that in the last forty years we've cleaned up the emissions of our factories and cars so much that, even with more people and more cars, the air is cleaner.
Public libraries. I have no idea what libertarians think of them and I'm not usually much on government funding of non-necessities, but I love the fact that even poor children in America can go into a public library and check out books. It feels like taking away treasure, just on the promise you'll bring it back in two weeks.
Supermarkets and all-you-can-eat-buffets. Okay, most of us should probably stay away from the latter--I know I should--but both are possible because food is abundant, available, and cheap. That has not been the case in all societies, either in the past or now. We have so much food we can afford to overfeed not only ourselves but our non-working domesticated animals.
The whole online world, even if it does contain a whole lot of porn, frivolous shopping sites, and such "oh god, please let this be a joke, why are these people serious" sites as the Chapstick addiction pages. Thanks to easy research tools and news blogging, it is now much harder for news programs or politicians to lie to the public without being caught; also with blogging we're a lot closer to something Chesterton mentioned once, the ideal of everyone (who wants one) being able to have his own newspaper. And for everyone who's had some jerk harass him on an irc Urkel chat room, there's many more who've had interesting conversations, made friends, or were inspired to learn a new skill from people they've interacted with online. The many countless people who maintain informative websites are engaged in what the public libraries I mentioned above are engaged in--the sharing of treasure.
Modern dental practices. If we have rotted away our teeth with desserts today, we don't have to face a choice between persistent dental pain and decay or having our teeth ripped out by a pair of pliers with no anesthesia beyond getting drunk as possible beforehand.
Factories. Not a very crunchy thing to applaud, I'll admit, but if we're honest, we all have to admit that our current high standard of living owes a lot to the much-maligned assembly lines. We should all think about it every once in a while, when looking around our kitchens or sewing rooms, laundry rooms or living rooms, computer rooms or garages--could we afford to buy the things we have in those rooms if they weren't mass produced, assuming they were available at all?
And this is definitely not a PC thing to list, but Uncle Pookie is grateful for the fact that "our ancestors killed off all the really annoying beasts, leaving us with only the minorly annoying beasts." When I'm slapping mosquitoes next summer, I'll try to remember to be thankful they're not saber-toothed tigers, but I'm not promising anything.
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Something To Be Thankful For
On this Thanksgiving--not to mention every other day of the year--I am thankful I live in a country where citizens can cavort in the streets, burning our national flag, spitting at our policemen and soldiers, ranting about the oppressive, fascist nature of our government, equating our elected leaders with Nazis, war criminals, mass murderers, etc., and calling for the impeachment, imprisonment, performance of anatomically improbable acts upon, removal from power, or occasionally even the death of those leaders--and then those same citizens can go home to their families and jobs, with nary a fear that the government will come in the middle of the night and take them or their families away for "reeducation", shut down their websites, take away their jobs, or burn their homes.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
An Uplifting Development
I am a pessimistic person. I rarely find anyone more pessimistic than I. Once recently NRO's John Derbyshire posted something in the Corner that made me think, "Dude, lighten up, it's not quite that bad", but usually when I read him or anyone else saying we're doomed, doomed, I'm apt to nod or irritably ask what else is new.
I'm not a denier of facts, though. We are better off in many ways than we used to be. Technology (applied science) helps, as does more humane attitudes toward our fellow men, more enlightened attitudes toward women, and the unprecedented wealth of modern Western societies. We now feed nearly everyone, survive diseases that used to be death certificates, and pollute less driving around than we used to pollute just letting our cars sit in the driveway. In many ways, things are getting better and better.
But nothing I've read about has excited me quite so much as this: a couple of biomechanists say that, what with new fibers and increased knowledge of how breasts move, we are about to have happen with bras what happend with running shoes in the 1970s. (Link via The Corner.) Just think of it. Comfortable bras that look good and support you. Remember what tennis shoes were like in the 1970s? Now remember how much better they were in the 1980s--so comfortable people started wearing them everywhere, because they didn't want to take them off. (If you're not old enough to remember wearing tennis shoes in the early '70s, look at some old photos of athletes. Do their shoes look comfortable to you? No. They had to exercise in shoes less comfortable and supportive than ones we wear to drive to the grocery store.) Now, if you're a woman, just imagine bras making that kind of leap in quality. Ahhh. It's a good thought. No more uncomfortable bouncing, dented shoulders, drooping where it should lift, bulging where it shouldn't, poking wires, biting elastic, cups that fit funny, and so on. Oh, brave new world that will have such things in it!
(If you're a man reading this, you probably have no idea what I'm on about. For an explanation, ask your wife or girlfriend if she's happy with her bras--better yet, ask a group of women. Try to still look interested when the complaining moves into the second half-hour.)
I'm not a denier of facts, though. We are better off in many ways than we used to be. Technology (applied science) helps, as does more humane attitudes toward our fellow men, more enlightened attitudes toward women, and the unprecedented wealth of modern Western societies. We now feed nearly everyone, survive diseases that used to be death certificates, and pollute less driving around than we used to pollute just letting our cars sit in the driveway. In many ways, things are getting better and better.
But nothing I've read about has excited me quite so much as this: a couple of biomechanists say that, what with new fibers and increased knowledge of how breasts move, we are about to have happen with bras what happend with running shoes in the 1970s. (Link via The Corner.) Just think of it. Comfortable bras that look good and support you. Remember what tennis shoes were like in the 1970s? Now remember how much better they were in the 1980s--so comfortable people started wearing them everywhere, because they didn't want to take them off. (If you're not old enough to remember wearing tennis shoes in the early '70s, look at some old photos of athletes. Do their shoes look comfortable to you? No. They had to exercise in shoes less comfortable and supportive than ones we wear to drive to the grocery store.) Now, if you're a woman, just imagine bras making that kind of leap in quality. Ahhh. It's a good thought. No more uncomfortable bouncing, dented shoulders, drooping where it should lift, bulging where it shouldn't, poking wires, biting elastic, cups that fit funny, and so on. Oh, brave new world that will have such things in it!
(If you're a man reading this, you probably have no idea what I'm on about. For an explanation, ask your wife or girlfriend if she's happy with her bras--better yet, ask a group of women. Try to still look interested when the complaining moves into the second half-hour.)
Monday, March 07, 2005
In Which Auntie Suzanne Has a Thought
Man, I love the information age. A few minutes ago I had a thought: All of the Americans who say America should be more like France and the rest of Europe, all of those Americans are against nuclear power--doesn't France get most of its energy from nuclear power?
Within a couple of minutes, I'd typed "France + nuclear power" into Google, and an article by Frontline producer Jon Palfreman called "Why the French Like Nuclear Energy" came up second from the top. It seems to be a few years old, so there's probably more up-to-date information out there, but it answered my question. Yes, France gets about 76% of its energy from nuclear power. It also addresses why the French are friendlier to nuclear power than Americans. Briefly, the French trust the government and large, centralized projects more than Americans do, the French need nuclear power more than Americans do, and the French think more highly of scientists than Americans do. Also the government put a lot of effort into getting people to consider the benefits of nuclear energy, rather than just the problems.
Now, I read through that article very quickly, so I may not be summing up as well as I should, but that's not the point. The point is that I can wonder about something and, assuming I'm near a computer, in a few minutes I can have the answer I'm looking for. It's great to be able to find information so quickly. You'd think I'd be used to it after all these years, but every once it still strikes me as amazing.
Then again, I was in a Wal-Mart a few months ago, pointing out some buttons to my husband, and saying wasn't it amazing the stuff we take for granted, here's buttons with intricate swirling designs on it that would have been so amazing to our Viking forebears that they would have been proud to wear them as an ornament, and here we look at them as nothing, just some ordinary something sold for 67 cents and hanging on a piece of pasteboard at Wal-Mart. And I really was amazed at the great detail we can put onto small buttons--so gratuitously and so cheaply. It's possible that I am easily impressed.
Within a couple of minutes, I'd typed "France + nuclear power" into Google, and an article by Frontline producer Jon Palfreman called "Why the French Like Nuclear Energy" came up second from the top. It seems to be a few years old, so there's probably more up-to-date information out there, but it answered my question. Yes, France gets about 76% of its energy from nuclear power. It also addresses why the French are friendlier to nuclear power than Americans. Briefly, the French trust the government and large, centralized projects more than Americans do, the French need nuclear power more than Americans do, and the French think more highly of scientists than Americans do. Also the government put a lot of effort into getting people to consider the benefits of nuclear energy, rather than just the problems.
Now, I read through that article very quickly, so I may not be summing up as well as I should, but that's not the point. The point is that I can wonder about something and, assuming I'm near a computer, in a few minutes I can have the answer I'm looking for. It's great to be able to find information so quickly. You'd think I'd be used to it after all these years, but every once it still strikes me as amazing.
Then again, I was in a Wal-Mart a few months ago, pointing out some buttons to my husband, and saying wasn't it amazing the stuff we take for granted, here's buttons with intricate swirling designs on it that would have been so amazing to our Viking forebears that they would have been proud to wear them as an ornament, and here we look at them as nothing, just some ordinary something sold for 67 cents and hanging on a piece of pasteboard at Wal-Mart. And I really was amazed at the great detail we can put onto small buttons--so gratuitously and so cheaply. It's possible that I am easily impressed.
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