Up until about 1850 a man and his family, a few friends and livestock, tools and a lot of hard work, could set off to the wilderness of Kentucky or Kansas, set up and make do.
I don't have a clue about how to fix most of the things I use everyday, let alone how to build them. I used to know how to do computer programming. Now all I can do is fill in the blanks on applications like Excel. I did have a car I could fix myself (the 65 Mustang) until last year. Now I can't even get my hand into the engine compartment.
Last week I got a greeting card in the e-mail last week and when I opened it I suddenly found myself off the internet with many of my programs corrupted. After many phone calls, I spent three hours on the phone with a very nice gentleman in Madras, India. After a long session, and $250 later, my computer had gotten rid of several very nasty spyware and trojans and I was back online. My accounts all needed to be reestablished but I'm working on it.
Last week I bought a used car because I wanted something a little fancier than my jalopy of the van. Just three days after I brought home I got engine warning lights. I took it back to the dealership and was told it would cost $650 to fix. I maintained my cool and they finally fixed it at no cost to me. I didn't even have to threaten them.
My point is that we are in a situation where all these machines have become essential to our lives. Then consider that they mostly run on electricity from a nuclear power plant a hundred miles away or on oil that comes here on ships from Arabia. Our politicians are more concerned with free school lunches than establishing real self sufficiency. Nuclear power is wrong. Oil companies are evil. No new production. We can't go after new coal production.
Maybe that is why West Virginia is still a wilderness.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment