"When the next batch of hurricane hits and the oil wells run dry, whom do you want to wake up next to? Someone who can program HTML or someone who can help a cow give birth? Do you want someone with Bluetooth or someone with a tractor? How can someone who makes food out of dirt not impress you?"
-Lou Bendrick
I've always felt that practical skills were necessary and important even in our modern world. We live in a society where children don't understand what it takes to make bread, nor do they have the skills needed to make their own bread or most other things. I keep taking one step back, building my skills bit by bit. Bread is on my brain lately, but there are many other things where I'm building my skill set, fabric production, homegrown produce, laundry soap, facial moisturizers, etc.
Now, this doesn't mean that I'm going to make everything myself. That just isn't practical in my life at this point. I have a medium sized family, a demanding job, and a small yard in which to grow essential ingredients. I don't have the time or resources to produce everything my family would need. However, I believe it's important to know where things come from and to share that knowledge with my children. The starting point of dinner isn't a box or a frozen bag or a can. The origins are much further back. I buy store bought pasta but that doesn't mean that I can't make pasta one day with my children to help them understand the process (next project!). It's like using a calculator. Calculators are fantastic devices but they're horrible if you don't understand the processes that the calculator is performing in an instant. Lack of knowledge, ignorance, is fixable. I'm on a mission to fix mine. What about you? Is convenience making you stupid?
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