"How did you ever survive?!"
Jun. 16th, 2009 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spookyeviloneI had been without power at the house since just before Memorial Day. It's back on as of last night. People keep saying, "How did you ever survive?!" and "I don't know how you can stand that." and other such dribble.
I grew up with grandparents who lived under the poverty level. Their house didn't have electricity, and it only had running water from a gravity pump that would occasionally need hand priming. There was a small ceramic wood/coal stove in the bathroom and that's where hot bathwater came from. By which I mean you'd boil it in a pot and dump it into the tub. They had an outhouse, which is still there and still in use even though the house now has proper indoor plumbing.
My mother was on welfare for a good portion of my childhood, and back then there were no utility subsidies, so we used as little as possible. Lights were on for about an hour in the summer, from 8-9, and then they were out.
So I didn't have lights at night and didn't have my computer or internet access at home for two weeks. So what? Really, that's people's idea of hardship, when there are whole families that are homeless and starving? I have internet access at work, I could bring the laptop to Starbuck's or, hell, McDonald's, if I needed a fix. I used my iPod Touch to read e-books at night until I was tired, or a camping lantern if I just had to read a regular paper book. The hot water heater runs on gas, so I was able to shower just fine, and laundry got done at That Guy's - but if he hadn't offered, I could have gone to a laundromat with no problem.
This is not hardship. It was an annoyance, certainly. It restricted my nighttime activities a bit, but not a lot.
I'm surprised and disgusted that this is considered something dire enough to moan and wail about.
I grew up with grandparents who lived under the poverty level. Their house didn't have electricity, and it only had running water from a gravity pump that would occasionally need hand priming. There was a small ceramic wood/coal stove in the bathroom and that's where hot bathwater came from. By which I mean you'd boil it in a pot and dump it into the tub. They had an outhouse, which is still there and still in use even though the house now has proper indoor plumbing.
My mother was on welfare for a good portion of my childhood, and back then there were no utility subsidies, so we used as little as possible. Lights were on for about an hour in the summer, from 8-9, and then they were out.
So I didn't have lights at night and didn't have my computer or internet access at home for two weeks. So what? Really, that's people's idea of hardship, when there are whole families that are homeless and starving? I have internet access at work, I could bring the laptop to Starbuck's or, hell, McDonald's, if I needed a fix. I used my iPod Touch to read e-books at night until I was tired, or a camping lantern if I just had to read a regular paper book. The hot water heater runs on gas, so I was able to shower just fine, and laundry got done at That Guy's - but if he hadn't offered, I could have gone to a laundromat with no problem.
This is not hardship. It was an annoyance, certainly. It restricted my nighttime activities a bit, but not a lot.
I'm surprised and disgusted that this is considered something dire enough to moan and wail about.