Thoughtless people and the modern focus on leisure

Tabby and Ed the rooster

Tabby decided to sell her flock of Silkie Bantam chickens so we posted them on CraigsList.  We got a response very quickly from a woman about them.  I heard from this woman several times, all friendly, excited messages, and she confirmed a couple times about the pickup time and date.

So Saturday Tabby and I spent close to an hour chasing and boxing up her Silkies.  We felt bad for the chickens as they were so scared once they realized something strange was going on.  Her lilac rooster even cut the comb on his head trying to hide from us.

We were sweating and tired when we finally finished.  We carried the boxes to the front yard and put them carefully in the shade.

Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited.

Tabby with two little chicks

 I texted and called the person.  No response.  I even prayed for them - that they were OK.

But finally, two hours later, we were really getting worried about the chickens being in the boxes because of the heat.  And, I finally admitted, they weren't coming.  ONCE AGAIN - another inconsiderate potential buyer.

Why is it so hard for people to just send an email, text, or call to say "Hey I'm sorry - I won't make it after all??"  Or "You know, I've just changed my mind.  Thanks anyway."  SOMETHING!  But just not showing up is so rude.  I pointed this all out to my kids several times making sure they understood how to handle situations like this.

So now we've relisted our CraigsList post and I added the blurb: "ONLY SERIOUS INQUIRIES PLEASE!"  Not that I think that will really make any difference.  People just are so self-centered these days.  (I'm not sure why this particular incident bothered me so much.  We've had no shows before.)

One fun thing out of all this is that we ended up keeping 3 of the newly hatched Silkie chicks.  Even Hunter was upset at the thought of there not being any Silkies anymore.  We just have a special place in our hearts for the little fuzz balls.  So each child has their own Silkie chick and they are currently living in a big tote bin in our dining room, under a heat lamp.

Hunter named his chick "Caroline Carla" and loves holding her:

I recently finished reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series with the boys.  I was so glad they really enjoyed them and were even disappointed when we finished the last book.  Hunter said he liked Farmer Boy the best and Solomon liked The Long Winter.

I've been reflecting lately on the huge shift in our overall society from working diligently all day to working as little as possible.  (This is a generalization - I know!)  But isn't our current focus on getting the necessary stuff done so we can just relax and "play?"  Or even just procrastinating what needs to be done - not worrying about "work before play" - and just jumping right to leisure activities.  Just as the art of thoughtfulness has been lost, so has the art of work.  (Again, I am generalizing.)

Consider this scene from Farmer Boy.  Almanzo is in the barn in the winter time, helping his father thresh the wheat.  They did it manually, using flails.  Almanzo, though only 10 years old, doesn't mind hard work.  But he does ask his father why he did not hire the men with the threshing machine to come and help.  A whole grain crop could be threshed in only a few days.

"That's a lazy man's way to thresh," Father said.  "Haste makes waste, but a lazy man'd rather get his work done fast than do it himself.  That machine chews up the straw till it's not fit to feed stock, and it scatters grain around and wastes it.

"All it saves is time, son.  And what good is time, with nothing to do?  You want to sit and twiddle your thumbs, all these stormy winter days?"

"No!" said Almanzo.  He had enough of that, on Sundays.
(pgs. 307-308)

 I know it is pretty easy to survive without hard work anymore.  It's not like the old days when if people didn't work they didn't eat.  And I know they had to work crazy hard.  I am so impressed with how hard the women worked just to get food on the table, clothes made, etc. and still had pride to keep their houses super clean.  I know with all our appliances, stores, etc, we don't have to work so hard in the same way anymore, but I just think a lot of character has been lost.  We walk around pushing buttons to get this or that to work for us, waste hours everyday glued to a screen of some kind, and can charge most whatever we want on credit cards.  There really is value to working hard and many of us are missing out on it.

And ... though I know many people don't believe this ... work isn't something terrible!  (I hear echoes in my head as I type this, of some of my own children shrieking "Oh no! It is chore time!")

Solomon wrote, in Ecclesiastes 3:22:  "So I saw there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot.  For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?"

Odysseus is growing fast!  Solomon loves to help me take care of the animals

Why is it that studies have shown that Americans, in general, tend to be less happy than the majority of people in poor countries?  We have more stuff, more money, more choices, more playtime, etc etc. 

I can't help but wonder if it is because, in general, we don't like to work hard.  Therefore we don't feel that deep satisfaction that work gives and a true sense of purpose in life.

"No task worth doing is easy ...." - Theodore Roosevelt

Wouldn't Almanzo and his father be shocked to visit us today?

Finally, on an aside, Laura and Almanzo Wilder's daughter Rose was a famous author, before Laura ever was.  She incorporated stories she learned from her parents into her novels.  Let the Hurricane Roar is a great story about a young couple seeking to survive on their new homestead.  Rose Wilder Lane has a different writing style than Laura did, but I really enjoy identifying bits of her parents lives in her stories.