During the war, a popular hobby during down times was to discuss in great detail what people were missing from pre-SHTF days. This usually involved good food, friends or family. I made it a point to avoid such folks. Why long for something you cannot have? Life was frustrating enough.
This doesn't happen so much today, now that life has returned to some semblance of normality. Heck, I saw my first post-SHTF bottle of Bordeaux up at Pete's.
There are a number of things from pre-SHTF days that I do NOT miss:
- Debt: The purchase of a good or service for delivery today at a greatly inflated price to be paid later. This just doesn't make sense to do these days. Nobody is far removed from work that puts (or keeps) a shirt on your back, food on your table or a roof over your head. If you need something you cannot do yourself, you work out a trade. You pay now.
- Traffic: Yet another benefit of a greatly reduced population and the fact the people work at or very near home. Perhaps this will change with future generations, and I know I'm not alone in this, but memories of being at work when SHTF occurred and being unable to help my family has left me paranoid: I do not wish to be in that situation again.
- Convenience: Just another word for paying an inflated price to get something now. When you spend all of your time working to pay off your debts or sitting in a car going to or from doing so, you have no time to do things right. So you generate more debt in order to eat now.
The Chinese say that it's a truly ill wind that blows everyone evil. While I am still in shock over the horror we endured during the war, things today aren't all that bad.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog.
Tim Ramsey
Something I don't miss is the feeling that absolutely everything as to be done "now". That constant pressure keep going, doing, producing and consuming "now". The feeling that if you don't fit in with the pace of society around you, you'll somehow miss out or have the good stuff withdrawn - although looking back I am at a loss to define exactly what the "good stuff" is or was. At least now we have a chance to slow down our pace and find the things which really matter to us. Yes, much of our lifestyle is slower simply because of the lack of the old power hungry, oil consuming technology, but now we can choose to spend time doing the things we have decided to do; those things we enjoy or that bring us satisfaction, instead of the things we thought we had to do to keep riding the whirlwind.
Not unlike after The Black Death when quality of life improved greatly for the peasantry.