It’s almost too easy to contrast things about LA and East Tennessee. I mean, how much more polar can you get? But, there are things that are much more subtle than politics, religion, and sexuality. One of these things that I have noticed is a sad lack of self-reliance here in the big city. The people I am thinking of are in their late 20s to early 30s, most are not married or homeowners. They live in communal spaces, sharing a bathroom and a sink full of dirty dishes with roommates. And by and large, they are completely clueless around the house.
They do not know how to cook – a microwave, a pasta pot, and a George Forman grill being the most advanced tools in their culinary arsenal. They do not know how to clean. Well, maybe they would if they just set their minds to it, but they lack the tools (a sturdy mop and bucket, a powerful vacuum cleaner with attachments) to actually execute. And, I am pretty sure that the thought of getting down on all fours and scrubbing a floor is a non-starter for nearly everyone I know here.
They are grooming themselves for either a life of perpetual rentership or a very expensive relationship to the home they will eventually own, as they cannot repair a leaking faucet, patch a wall, or hook up a washer/dryer. Somehow, a person can get away with this these days. Just as a person can expatriate to Prague and never bother to learn Czech. But, I feel like a person who never learns to quilt, mend, hem, make yogurt, repair a car, bicycle, grow food, care for an animal, use a power drill, table saw, or caulk gun or any one of the many tasks that once upon a time not so long ago made up the events of a human being’s day-to-day life, is cheating themselves. When I left for Tennessee, I was in love with the following quote by author Robert Heinlein:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Here’s to becoming self-sufficient, learning everything from the mundane to the arduous to the intellectual without granting any of those a superior status.
