Perhaps it's just the adds for all the Christmas things, perhaps it's the era we live in, perhaps it's the affluent neighborhood. But it seems like lately.. my god, what do we do for ourselves? I touched on this earlier, but it just seems to be so.. rampant? Rampant and unrefined, uncouth, rude.
I was in the Rideau Center. At Sears, you can actually go in and get a holiday "Elf" to do your shopping list for you. And you just purchase. They choose, wrap, bag.. and you pay. There is a commercial for a teddy bear - it actually reads to your children! You put batteries in it, and voila - you set it with your child and it reads away, does the hand motions, the voice fluctuations, teaches your child to follow along.
We have people to walk our dogs. Babysit our children. Clean our houses. Marx had it right - we got wealthier and wealthier, then women started to work, then we worked enough to hire people to do the jobs that we used to do - walk our dogs, babysit our children, clean our houses.. What do we really do anymore? How is it possible that I'm the only one in my cohort of 20 co-workers that cooks? Or bakes? Or knits? Or knows how to remove stains, to change a tire, to properly set a table?
Alex and I discussed the fact that we wish, just wish, that being ladylike would come back. The thank-you notes, hats, gloves, somebody other than the militia calling me ma'am. That people said excuse me, baked goods, brought hostess gifts. That boys opened doors, brought flowers, called on time.
It's all dissolving the same way. I wonder, the people we get to do all these things - shop for us, walk our dogs, take care of our children - are they proper? Have we de-evolved? To be so middle class and upper crass? Do they send thank you notes? Or do they hire somebody to do that too?
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