In the years following the great war, a change swept across our land. Men and women, once masters of their own fates, began to lean on others for the tasks they once held dear. The farmer’s plow rusted in the field; the craftsman’s tools gathered dust. With each passing day, the threads of self-reliance unraveled, replaced by the convenience of another’s hand.
The world grew smaller. Voices traveled over wires, goods crossed oceans in the seeming blink of an eye, and machines whispered promises of ease. It became simple to let go, to trust in the vast web of progress. Why toil in the soil when bread waits on the shelf? Why mend a fence when a stranger offers to do it for a fee? The answers seemed clear, and so we drifted.
But in this drift, something was lost. The taste of a tomato, warm from the sun, plucked by one’s own hand. The satisfaction of a roof mended against the coming storm. The quiet pride in knowing that, come what may, one could stand firm on one’s own two feet. These were traded for comfort, for speed, for the illusion of plenty.
Yet, beneath the hum of modern life, a question stirs. What have we surrendered in our quest for ease? Are we not but passengers in our own lives, carried along by forces we no longer control? The answer lies not in grand gestures but in the small acts of reclamation.
Plant a seed. Watch it sprout and grow. Feel the dirt beneath your nails and understand the miracle of sustenance. Fix the leaky faucet. Hold the wrench, turn it, and listen as the drip, drip, drip ceases. Read a book. Let the pages turn in your hand, the words forming images in your mind, unmediated by screens or wires.
In these acts, independence is reborn. Not as a rejection of progress, but as a balance. A dance between the gifts of the modern world and the strength of the human spirit. For in the end, it is not the tools we possess, but how we choose to wield them, that defines our path.
So, let us choose with care. Let us remember the joy of doing for ourselves, the lessons learned in the effort, and the resilience gained in the process. In this, we find not only our independence but our true selves.
Join us in making the world a better place – you’ll be glad that you did. Cheers friends.