Luxury Creates Weakness and Boredom

One of our Founding Fathers, (and I can't remember whom at the moment) was once quoted as saying that he feared the American capitalistic society would become so wealthy and successful that the citizens would become weak.
Weak, as in unable to do the physically taxing activities one may need in order to survive. Some things he may have thought of: haul water, walk twelve miles, chop firewood, farm...
Now if only he would see many of the average citizens of today. Obese, inactive, stuck at the mall with a soda in one hand, cell phone in the other. Whining about the thread count of their bed sheets and that there are only 99 stations on the big screen TV.... (It is interesting to note that many citizens are so fixated on the luxury of the automobile that we have allowed whole cities to be built without considering for public transportation or bike and walking paths..)
But I regress. To the fear of the citizens becoming too weak to care for themselves, I wanted to add my own observation--they become unable to amuse themselves as well!!
The luxury of having a brand new house, new car, clothes galore, heat on demand, dishwashers and clothes dryers, riding mowers and a leaf blower, leaves many U.S. citizens scratching their inactive little heads wondering what to do with all this free time. (of course they don't admit it, and claim they are busy, busy--but the truth is TV viewing time is up, up, up..)
I have known those that admit they are "bored" all weekend. And I do all I can to refrain from strangling them. Let them lament about all the movie rentals, channel surfing and senseless cell phone calls they make all day. Or look at the teens and tweens and inbetweens. Roaming the materialistic malls, with a phone in one ear, ipod in the other...miserable in their own boredom.

Too bad nobody recognizes this. That if they just replaced the leaf blower with a rake, parked the car and walked, tried to sew their own dress, or grow a vegetable-instantly the boredom and even some of weakness would disappear!

"Outside is Boring"

I recently hosted an outdoors children's event along our river bank. The kids could explore, pick rocks, play in puddles and sand. Many of the little Alaskan tykes literally dug right in and enjoyed themselves immensely.
What concerns me though are the ones that did not. A few of the children (even in Alaska!) had trouble walking on uneven non-paved surfaces or complained about the elements. But worst of all was the comment I heard from one little girl: "outside is boring". She was looking for toys and video games.
One obvious solution is to expose the kids to more outdoor play (a huge societal problem to say the least) so they become more comfortable. But the less obvious problem is living with material excess. The little girl who found rocks and sand boring, actually has an 'outdoorsy' mother, but also a house packed to the brim with more toys and video games than Toy r' Us.
I read a quote somewhere that too many toys hamper a child's creativity and makes them into boring children. How true that rings. Having to figure out how to amuse oneself without the help of 65 items from China takes more thought and imagination! Yet, in the end a much better result and an appreciation for nature to boot. The next generation of children will never enjoy being outdoors if they haven't developed the attention span to appreciate it. So I challenge parents everywhere--stop buying so many crappy toys and tell your kids to create their own experiences instead!!! It's not as dangerous as you may think....

The Perks of High Fuel Costs

First of all, my family is not in a favorable financial position. Secondly, we also require to commute by car for work. --On that note, I feel entitled to continue with my positive take on higher fuel costs...
From my experience, the United States has actually been spoiled for many years, because whenever you travel to anywhere else, for example Canada--the prices of gasoline are shockingly high. And what do these higher prices bring?? They bring innovation. Realistic public transportation and more consideration to pedestrian & bicycle friendly urban planning.
Here in Alaska an unintended perk of the high fuel costs has been less recreational snowmachine and ATV traffic. Amazing! The wilderness has gotten a bit of a break, because folks can't afford the gas to tear it up....
It's no secret that people are planning their travels more, car pooling, looking for smaller cars (even hybrids) considering alternative energy, all good stuff!
Of course the cost of importing goods has increased--but again, what's wrong with fishing around for more ways to buy local & boosting the local farmer or craftsman?? Our over-reliance on cheap imported goods hasn't made us a better nation.
I am sure plenty of poorer countries are even more substantially affected by fuel costs than us. Often with grave consequences. There too, I can only hope that this period of economic turmoil will help boost innovation and self-sufficiency!!