"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Saturday, May 8, 2010
I got to thinking the other day; there are a number of skills and abilities that affluent westerners are losing, a little bit every day. They include:
- The ability to do math in one's head
- The ability to spell
- The ability to write in cursive
- Penmanship [if you were born after 1980 you probably don't even know what I'm referring to)
- The ability to wait
- The ability to remember phone numbers
- The ability to just stand there and smile for a picture
- The ability to ration out the pictures in a roll of 24, carefully choosing each shot
- The ability to sit quietly, with nothing to do, and just think. And to be OK with that
- The ability to drive a stick shift
- The ability to work on one's own car (with the way engines are designed today, it's nearly impossible)
- (for little kids) The ability to run around free all summer, playing outside with friends
Can you think of anything I've missed? If so, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
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Comments on "Skills Slipping Away . . .":
2. Bill
- 05/08/2010 7:43 pm CDT
Ah, thanks Jeff.
I guess I need to add to my list "The ability to know anything about other parts of the world." :-)
4. Shrode
- 05/09/2010 5:57 am CDT
the ability to be content not knowing where you had seen a particular actor before, or what moose-horned snorkaxe was. I'm referring to the days before wikipedia.
The ability to record a song on tape off of the radio.
the ability to start a fire without matches.
the ability to call someone collect from a pay-phone to send them sort of message, all in the amount of time it takes them to deny the charges, thus not having to pay to tell your dad to come pick you up. (Not that I'm endorsing said practice.)
6. jen
- 05/09/2010 8:29 am CDT
Aren't writing in cursive and penmanship sort of the same thing?
The last one makes me very, very sad for my own kids. I'm such a paranoid Mom, especially given what I know because of my job, that I won't let Jesse out of my sight when he's outside. Not even for a second.
8. Milly
- 05/09/2010 9:47 pm CDT
The last one makes me very, very sad for my own kids. I'm such a paranoid Mom, especially given what I know because of my job, that I won't let Jesse out of my sight when he's outside. Not even for a second.
Jen,
I hear that! They just caught a guy in these parts for what he did to a little girl and he took her right out of her front yard. You aren't paranoid, you’re a good mom.
10. kenleonard
- 05/10/2010 9:09 am CDT
Oh, yeah ... Great list.
I was amazed, when I started working in banking, how few bankers could do simple arithmetic in their heads.
When my teller supervisor reached for a calculator to add 20+9, I was just about terrified.
I'm not kidding, by the way. 20+9.
11. salguod
- 05/15/2010 11:13 am CDT
- The ability to drive a stick shift
- The ability to work on one's own car (with the way engines are designed today, it's nearly impossible)
I still drive a stick and my wife and I unified on the fact that our daughters will know as well (starting later this year, yikes.)
Oh, and I still work on my own cars, mostly. (As I get older, my desire to lay on the concrete wrenching on the car to save a couple hundred bucks is fading.) It's not impossible, they are still simply a collection of parts bolted together.
In some ways it's easier. I can go to Autozone and they'll plug a scanner into the car giving me an error code. I then Google the error code or search a fan forum for my vehicle (they exist for every car, even my Honda Odyssey van) and I'm likely to figure out what part to replace without really understanding what's happening. With old cars, you had to understand how things worked to figure out why it made that whump-whump noise or was hard to start.
12. Bill
- 05/15/2010 11:48 am CDT
Great points, Salguod. I think it's cool you guys drive sticks!
I've never been a great mechanic, but I could do stuff on my 1973 Toyota Celica back in the day (replace water pump, overhaul carburetor, etc.) I can't even squeeze a wrench into the newer engines. Plus I'm chicken.
This came home to me when my uncle, who is one of the best mechanics I've ever known, said he'd basically quit working on his cars (in his defense he's almost 70) because they were just getting too complicated.
I'm glad you still can. I've checked out the forums before (we have an Oddy too :-) - and still do some small things. But - for the most part I'm keeping the mechanics in business :-)
Leave a Comment:
"- The ability to drive a stick shift "
Only if you consider the US to be "The West." Europeans all still drive manual.