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We recently read Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods to the kids. The parents’ life was non-stop work from sun-up to sundown and beyond, and while there was
by flatline 7y ago
We recently read Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods to the kids. The parents’ life was non-stop work from sun-up to sundown and beyond, and while there was some downtime in the winter, everyone was basically homebound. It did not seem like a bad life at all, but then I think there is an eternal virtue to hard work that is only tangentially related to sitting at a desk in the modern era.
- hnzix 7y agoAn isolated homesteader's lifestyle would be vastly different to a medieval village community.
- lazyasciiart 7y agoThey were literal pioneers. It was considered an incredibly difficult lifestyle by everyone else back then too.
- ericmcer 7y agoThe closer your work is to the actual benefit it provides, the more gratifying it is.
- libraryatnight 7y agoI post this quote a lot, but I your point made me think of it again: "It is useless work that darkens the heart. The delight of the nursing mother, of the scholar, of the successful hunter, of the good cook, of the skillful maker, of anyone doing needed work and doing it well, - this durable joy is perhaps the deepest source of human affection and of society as a whole." - Ursula K LeGuin
- Zanni 7y agoThat's a great quote. I've often said that fulfilling work is one of the great joys in life, but leave it to Ursula LeGuin to say it better.
- bryanrasmussen 7y agoThen why do I hate cooking?
- bondolo 7y agoNobody has to like everything. I like cooking, I hate doing dishes and cleaning. I know people who hate cooking and enjoy dishes. It is good to have a mix of complementary skills and preferences in a household. It's a hell of a thing when, as a cook, you can stand up from a good dinner you made and walk away from the mess knowing that your roommate Barry wants to have a quiet hour of not talking to anyone doing the dishes and tidying the kitchen because he has actually been looking forward to it and that's what gives him peace. The same peace I got from chopping vegetables and stirring pots. I've even met someone who likes doing laundry! They wash and iron their own dress shirts despite being perfectly able to pay an inexpensive dry cleaner and describe it as "Cheaper than seeing a shrink".
- stevesimmons 7y agoYou make it sound as if washing and ironing is a massive chore. Let's say you have 5 shirts a week. Step 1: When you do your white wash, throw in the shirts. Hang them up afterwards. Incremental cost: 2 minutes of your time... Step 2: When you do ironing, incremental cost of 5 shirts @ 3 minutes per shirt is 15 minutes... Probably less that your two trips to the dry cleaner. Plus, nil $ cost, no plastic wrapping to throw away, no use of dry cleaning chemicals.
- mistersquid 7y ago> When you do ironing, incremental cost of 5 shirts @ 3 minutes per shirt is 15 minutes. 3 mins? I iron my shirts, five a week, and it takes me 10-15 mins per shirt, depending on the shirt.
- enqk 7y agoThere's something wrong with your technique or the materials.
- icebraining 7y agoThis seems counter-intuitive, if you consider the work choices throughout history. People who had no choice did all the "direct benefit" work (cooking, cleaning, etc) whereas those with money engaged in a bunch of pursuits with no clear benefits, just for the sake of it: science, theoretical math, philosophy, art, etc. Often the fruits of their work only came after their deaths.