Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Two Things Which Always Get Me

I'm not doing it that often but today I really feel like ranting so please bear with me:)

There are two things which always get me, one is the idea that there is not enough to do at home for a woman thus she should seek employment elsewhere; the other is the idea that it's possible to have a traditional family without traditional sex roles.

On my blog I avoid telling personal stories because I detest gossiping and don't want to point fingers to people I know in real life, but one thing I will say: the women who told me that there was nothing to do at home usually also did nothing. Their homes were the messiest I've ever seen, they couldn't cook and mostly left the children to their own devices.

There can be different reasons why married women choose to work: financial difficulties, the desire for a more luxurious lifestyle, feminism, the husband insisting his wife works etc. Why not being honest about it, instead of stating that there is nothing to do at home? Look, we are a small family and yet I still have a lot to do. In fact, I haven't been writing much on the blog because I have been trying to put my house back in order and it costs time and energy which I can't then use to research and write articles.

The only reason women claim there is nothing to do at home, is because our modern standards of housekeeping and personal care are atrociously low. Some Christians even suggested serving food on paper plates which could be thrown away so that not to waste any time washing the dishes (it should be used for home business as the only thing which matters is money, apparently). I won't point fingers but those who read the book I mean will remember that part.

There were also articles teaching women to cook once a month and freeze the meals because cooking isn't important any more. You know, there is something really distressing in the idea that we put money-making activities atop of manners, traditions, and even family health (how healthy it is to eat meals out of the freezer every day of one's life?)

I have been watching some old films and one thing struck me: in the 1940s and 1950s most people were quite poor by our modern standards: they couldn't afford a car or a vacation abroad or even a TV set but they were on average better dressed and groomed and ate their meals at the table with their family, using real dishes instead of paper ones. Nowadays people buy all sorts of electronic junk but choose to dress like they live under the bridge and often don't even cook dinner. Kinda shows what our society holds as important things in life.

Our civilisation is going down the gutter fast taking with it things which made it so unique and beautiful: our classical music, our art, our distinctly Western style of dress (before it became fashionable to wear overalls day in day out), our cooking habits and even our table manners. Some time ago I wrote a review about an old film called Prisoner Of Zenda .Well, I got a lot of hits on this article, all coming from India and Arabian countries.

It appears that in those countries they study the novel which was the basis of it at school. Prisoner Of Zenda is a story about always doing your duty even at the cost of your personal feelings. This is how we used to raise our children in the West. Now people in non-Western countries teach their children these important lessons as part of the school curriculum while we are teaching ours that feeling good and not being offended is everything that matters. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Well, you will ask me what does it all have to do with housewives? Simply this: a housewife at home, even without children or the one whose children are grown up, is still performing an important function of keeping the home fires burning. By refusing to learn the traditional feminine arts such as cooking, by not cleaning the house, by failing to teach her children good manners and read good books to them, a woman contributes to the ongoing destruction of the Western society.

I wish we all collectively stopped worshipping the almighty dollar (or euro or whatever) and realised that there are things which can't be bought for money. If you choose to become a homemaker, as a woman, you probably won't have material luxury, but you will have time to preserve the culture, customs and traditions of your people. Culture doesn't begin at the concert hall or in the art gallery. It begins at home. It begins with you setting the table and using napkins and teaching your children to do the same.

As a housewife, this task of preserving the culture and transmitting it to the next generation belongs to you. Don't underestimate its importance!

5 comments:

  1. Well said! My pet peeve is that people just assume I work because of feminism and react negatively if I say I don't.

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  2. Thanks! I realise we live in an imperfect world and there are all sorts of situations in life, it's just this attitude of "housework being obsolete because we have the dishwashers" which irritates me:)

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  3. Bravo! Well Said, indeed. I agree with you on every point. In fact I have been thinking alot lately about the fact that we housewive are a critical factor in preserving the culture. Everything you said is so key.

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  4. Thanks! Nice to hear from you...

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  5. It is true what you say. Moderns think housekeeping should be a swipe and a dash, because ministry or education or making money is touted as more important.

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