T-Minus One Day and Counting

Okay, I feel like Charles Ingalls laying in supplies for the cross-country trip to Kansas.

In our modern world, we can buy it, pack it, use it, and then buy it again.  Of course, the Ingalls had no such luxury.  What does that do to a person?  In my opinion it makes modern man less cautious, less thrifty, and far less reliant on a higher power to supply their needs.  The Ingalls' trip was life and death.  One mistake - one supply forgotten, and things could have gone bad very quickly.

In other words, compared to that, our trip is a lark!

I thought about the Ingalls as I went to Meijer and Walmart with Leah and picked up - out of the thousands of choices - what we needed, put it in the basket, paid for it, and walked out.  I often wonder what our ancestors would think of this modern world and all its easy goods - would they be awed or appalled?  One character trait of both the real and the TV Charles Ingalls was that he provided for his own - no handouts, no taking and always giving.  Now, that trait can be prideful as well as showing strength - and I imagine Charles had a bit of both, but - for the most part - it shows the spirit of our early self-sufficient and hard-working ancestors.

I always say I would go back to the 19th century in a heartbeat, and I mean it.  But there is another side - during the long hard winter the Ingalls had no food or fuel due to a long series of blizzards. Charles had to fear his family would starve.  We have a hard winter?  When I was a kid we lived in the country.  We had a hard winter with a blizzard that left seven feet of snow piled up against the house.  What did we do?

Someone came out on a snowmobile and brought us food.

Makes you think.