Advantaged?

I recently stumbled across a PBS series about a British lord and his family at the start of World Ward I. As often happens, I am more captivated with the house and clothing than the movie, but I absolutely love this particular show because it shows both the wealthy family as well as the behind-the-scene life of the servants and how such a large, formal household was run. This has always been a bit of a mystery to me, especially because I've always heard stories about my great-great grandmother working as a maid for a wealthy family and being very particular because of it.

I was pondering on this today as I was trying to clean my own tiny apartment. Its amazing how quickly such a small space can fall into disarray, and how much work it can be to keep it clean and organized. I thought about what the house I live in would have been like 100 years ago when it was brand new. There are so many things I don't have to worry about compared to then. Not just all of the things that make life easier like a dishwasher or washer and dryer (not that we have either, even 100 years later), but how many formalities have been dropped, and in more ways than one.

1900 Kitchen 

1940 Kitchen 

2010 Kitchen 

Judith Rasband recently came and spoke in a class of mine about professional dress. I'd never understood what people meant when they said Americans don't know how to dress, but now I do. Its not so much that they can't put an outfit together if they really wanted to, but more that they choose not to. I heard someone complain that taking time to have a clean house and to dress nicely is a waste of time and that she is so glad to live in a time where where she can wear sweats, have a messy house, but expand her mind. I thought, 'Get real, lady. We all know you are spending the time saved by having a messy house and not showering so you can veg on facebook.' And how true is that of all of us?

We have so many advances provided us by technology, but are we really using them to our advantage? We dress poorly when it is easier than ever to get and care for clothes. Our homes are a mess while there are a myriad of tools to make maintenance and cleaning easier. Our manners and knowledge of etiquette are almost non-existent in my generation. So have all these advantages really helped us? Are we really improving ourselves with all these improvements? I think in many ways many of these subtle changes, the informality and wasting of time come about over 100 years, is a sly plot to distract us from the important things in life.

I wonder what things I am being distracted from. Self-improvement? Learning? Skills? Awareness of others? How about you?