| Oct 16 2012 |
"For Your Most Kind Consideration: Approval, Satisfaction, Happiness, And...Joy!"
10/16/12
Part V continued...
"1923"
(Comprised of more raw data, presumed inferences, arbitrary historical comparisons, subjective implications, and relative conclusions and their meanings)
In parts I-IV, attempts were made to separate ,‘needs' from ‘wants', by practicality and how-to either a greater, or lesser extent-they subsequently affected what we perceive to be the emotive qualities of, ‘satisfaction', to, ‘happiness'.
In the beginning of part V, attempts were made to:
1) Recapitulate and to define-where needed, and-subsequently--to great length!--data and statistics sufficiently, and well-enough to help explain, to help clarify, or to adjust figures where indicated, so that, ‘oranges could be transformed into apples', in order that, ‘apples could be reasonably compared to apples'!
2) Further, that any statistic used be readily found by those interested.
3) To be as honest as possible in selecting facts and figures relevant to the question or questions at hand in hopes to minimalize personal bias.
4) To refrain-as much as is possible-from ‘contaminating' the data, by either intentional, or unintentional, ‘skewing', in order to confirm original hypothesis.
In thinking about one's levels of satisfaction to levels of happiness as they may relate to, ‘need' fulfillment or ‘want' fulfillment, and beyond, it is necessary-first, where possible-to characterize the basic elements of, ‘need', and, ‘want', in hopes of being able to integrate them into a single, more or less manageable equation-that, while subjective-may yet attempt to shed some revealing light as to our behavior; a greater understanding of our priorities, and of ourselves, and-hopefully-to a better recognition of what truly makes us happy.
Such, ‘survival', requisites, might look something like this, in terms of assumed primacy:
1) Water
2) Edible/nourishing food
3) Procreation (as a biological imperative, and gene pool-variation)
4) Shelter
5) Transportation
6) The establishment of Tribe
A) Recognition of the, ‘Alpha' ( ? )
7) Income--from the beginnings of, ‘work for wage', to an increasing degree-as may be considered necessary to meet, ‘needs', aside from, ‘work for goods', or in trading, ‘goods for goods' of considered equal value.
And so-again--I submit to you, my very, very dearest friends for your consideration and/or approval, the following social equation:
(Need+Need Fulfillment) + Comfort, Choice, Availability = (Want+Want Fulfillment) +Luxury, Immediacy, Availability = (Status)
Let us proceed...
"1923"
You may first well ask: "1923...what does THAT have to do with anything?" And, for the most part, you would be correct. On the bare face of it, the year 1923 is just a number. It could have been any number, any number at all...1602, or 1840, or-in fact-2136!For me, the year, ‘1923' (in point of fact-actually--it may be closer to, ‘1922'!), as I cannot be more specific than that.
On my bedside nightstand, there is a framed copy of a photograph taken sometime between 1922 and 1923. It is a dingy picture of my father as a little boy, my grandmother, my grandfather, my father's older sister, and a younger boy (probably my dad's brother Robert), and an infant boy held in my grandmother's lap.
This one photograph, taken within the space of just two years, is precious to me, because of its many, ‘onlys'.
It's the ONLY photograph I have of my grandmother, my grandfather, my father's elder sister, his two, younger brothers, and dad as a little boy, no more than maybe three or four years old.
And while I cannot give evidence of the exact date on which this picture was taken, it is-nevertheless-a moment frozen in time.
I can see what they were wearing, and how they, ‘posed' for the camera. As mere supposition, I can guess their general health, their attention to hygiene, and self-care.
Further, by looking at their clothes, and their chosen-hence, available-items with which to adorn themselves gives-at least-a couple of clues as to their financial, and/or societal standing.
First of all, while family, ‘portraits', are fairly common, and-quite understandably-that family members would want to look as good as possible, in wearing their, ‘Sunday Best', the apparent quality, and various number of accessories does manage to convey that at least, the family was financially comfortable, and solidly, ‘Middle Class', or even, upwardly mobile, ‘Middle Class'.
And while my grandfather is wearing-perhaps-tie, black suit, vest, and black shoes, he also has a nice tie-tack for his tie, and a pocket watch in display.
He is looking into the camera, with what seems to be a genuine-not forced-smile; to look at him, one would guess, probably rightly so, that he was perfectly satisfied, even happy with the then, ‘status quo'.
My grandmother (who was very shy, and tended to be withdrawn), was wearing a pretty-enough dress, with a headband-typical of the time-in lace. She is wearing a brooch, and the sleeves of her dress are edged in lace.
At three (four, at tops) years old, my father was standing-hands clasped--between his mother and father, looking so absolutely cute in his little, ‘sailor suit'.
His sister, Helen, is plainly dressed, with a ribbon in her hair, and is pictured sitting next to my grandfather with her arms resting on his shoulders.
From what dentition they reveal in their smiles, I could not discern any missing teeth. Everyone looked clean, well-dressed, healthy, and reasonably happy.
Having looked at so many photographs over the years-besides the development time of various cameras used for family portraiture-I imagine that I can tell the difference between a spontaneous smile, and one that has been, ‘faked'.
Or...maybe not. For in this-as in too many assumptions made over the years-I could, of course, be quite wrong. And-again-I look to you, my very dearest friends, and loyal, gentle readers, for necessary corrections, whether they may support my conclusions or not.
Let us then try-as best we can-to press onward.
Please allow me to reiterate my list of, ‘hierarchical need', using as reference, this time, my grandfather and grandmother, and their family, as they might have been in 1923.1) Water. In addition to water-in 1923-there was-of course-milk, carbonated water, carbonated soda, beer, wine, liquor, fruit juice, and so on.
Milk was delivered every other day-as was needed-by the milkman in a horse-drawn wagon. Milk came in quart, glass bottles with a cardboard lid. Provided was a wire tray, in which the bottle fit.
When a bottle had been emptied, it was washed-by a member of the household-and left-out on the porch to be replaced by new, full bottles. A hand-written list of next delivery's need would be rolled up, and stuck into the neck of an empty bottle.
From the milkman, one could also buy eggs, cream, cottage cheese, and-sometimes-ice cream.
Since milk in those days was not homogenized, the butterfat, or, cream in the milk would rise to the top of the bottle, to collect just under the lid. And unless the kids in the house could get to it first (which often warranted a spanking!), the cream was generally given to the baby, with some saved for my grandfather's coffee, and some for the kids when they were ill, or needed, ‘fattening up'.
In essence, everyone in the house drank skim milk.
2) Edible/nourishing food. There were-of course, small mostly, ‘mom and pop', markets, and general stores, a large percentage of food was grown at home, in an enormous garden.
On weekends-if not otherwise kept busy with chores-the older children would pick wild berries, dandelion leaves, apples.
One of my grandfather's many jobs was as a butcher in a meat market. He was always bringing home beef short ribs, brisket, usable scraps from cutting sides of beef.
There was not the prohibition as we have today regarding raising livestock in one's own yard. Just about everyone had chickens running about, which provided meat and eggs. The family who lived next door to my father raised pigs (of course, at the very end of their long, back yard!).
Anytime, anyone had a cow, pig, or goat to slaughter, they would call my grandfather, who would clean, dress, and cut-up the meat in exchange for-not money-but, rather, for a nice portion of the meat itself.
My grandfather always had a couple of large hams which were hung-up in the basement. In time, they would develop a kind of green crust over the hams which had already been cured. This bit of green was simply scraped-away.
Even when-in time-my grandfather's family grew to six children, and four, occasionally, five adults (my grandfather, his mother and sister, my grandmother, and her brother), no one ever starved, or went without food.
All of it was cooked upon, or baked in a huge, cast iron, coal or wood-burning stove. Still, with remarkable adroitness-by tasting a pat of butter on the edge of the grill inside-my grandmother knew the correct temperature needed to cook roasts, or to make bread, or to bake pies.
Every Saturday, my grandmother would bake six of eight pies to last the week, as my grandfather insisted on having a ‘piece of pie, after supper'.
What remained as perishable leftovers, or goods were placed in an, ‘ice box', from which comes our colloquial phrase for ‘refrigerator'.
It consisted of two boxes, both zinc-lined, one over the other. At least every two or three days, the iceman-in an horse-drawn wagon--would deliver to the house blocks of ice weighing up to fifty or more pounds each.
The iceman wore a large, leather apron that covered a shoulder; on this, he would carry these heavy blocks of ice with a heavy-duty pair of tongs, having first sawed the ice into properly-sized blocks, and-in process, if he was in a good mood-would shave-off little chunks of ice to give the kids as a treat on a hot day.
The ice was loaded into the bottom of the icebox, which had a drain hose on it through a small hole in the kitchen floor to catch the runoff as the ice melted.
Once loaded, the coldness of the ice drifted up through holes in the upper box where the food was kept.
My father told me that-at meals-my grandfather always said (after, ‘grace'!) "Take all you want...but, eat ALL you take!"
3) Procreation (as a biological imperative, and gene pool-variation). Well before 1923, that imperative had largely lost its importance.
In the past, large families were considered desirable as they represented more, ‘hands', to do the work around the farm. Many times, younger children were tended to by the older children in the family.
My grandfather and grandmother had seven children, a girl who died in childbirth, and my dad's older sister, Helen, who died in her early teens.
There was-as maybe it still is, today-the desire to sire a son, to inherit, and to, ‘take over', the family business.
And-frankly-there was no such thing as contraception. One simply had as many children as one could reasonably support.
4) Shelter. My father used to talk about the, ‘old homestead'. It was a no-frills, two-story, kind of rambling house that had a large, full front porch, a living room and dining room and enormous kitchen, and maybe, a, ‘parlor', for company, or to entertain visiting relatives, or to, ‘receive', the local minister. Upstairs, there were three, perhaps four bedrooms.
There were NO bathrooms in the house...no sinks, toilets, or tubs, or showers. Near the end of the backyard, there was an outhouse, which everyone used.
Toilet paper was still expensive, and so newspaper was used, or-since one could get one for free-a Sear's catalogue which was cut up into sheets, and hung on a nail inside the outhouse.
Of course, every so often, the hole under the outhouse would become full, necessitating digging a new hole, and moving the outhouse directly over it. This is why-for practical reasons-many outhouses were on sleds that could be more easily moved.
Inside each bedroom-and, ONLY for use during the bleakest Winter, or, for emergency use-under each bed was a fairly large, ‘chamber pot', made of ceramics or metal, often with a lid; it was actually an assigned chore for one of the children to empty these pots each morning, and then, take them outside to be scrubbed, cleaned, and dried.
In many homes-in lieu of bathroom sinks-in each bedroom was a, ‘washstand', a table with rungs on each side to hold towels, and face clothes. On it was a large, empty basin, containing a pitcher, or, ‘ewer', half-full of water.
Deodorant was unknown. So, between the obligatory, Saturday night bath (in time for church on Sunday!), faces, hands, underarms, and the more, ‘odiferous', of body parts were attended to by application of water poured into the basin, and scrubbing, using an available bar of soap.
The only source of running water in the house was piped-in through the faucet over the large, kitchen sink; some years before that, there would have been a hand-operated pump instead, that drew water from a well.
The house-if it were common to those of the day-had a fireplace in the living room, one in the dining room, and-if one was lucky-a fireplace in the upstairs, master bedroom.
What electrical service they had was limited to the overhead bulbs in the ceilings, and (and THIS, qualifies as a, ‘want'!) a radio that sat on a lamp table beside my grandfather's, ‘chair'. BTW, no one ever sat in the chair, no one. And no one was allowed to touch the radio!
When my grandfather returned home, at the end of a long day (remember, please, that in 1923, there was no such thing as an, ‘eight-hour day', or, ‘a five-day, work week'!), the following ritual was conducted: my grandfather would retire to, ‘his', chair, to relax. One of the children would bring him his slippers. Another, his pipe and newspaper.
5) Transportation. While personal ownership of automobiles was not uncommon in 1923, I am still unsure of whether my grandfather even had a car until 1928.
There were-of course-buses, taxis, trucks for business. However, in 1923, horse-drawn carts, drays, and wagons were a regular sight. Many people walked, or simply hitched rides on passing cars and trucks.
Still, by 1928, when I know with certainty that my grandfather had a car (in this case, a used Graham-Paige, large-enough to hold the entire, extended family), even then, it was-outside of a, ‘life or death' emergency, driven only on Sunday, to convey the family to church; and on very rare occasion-when there was some little, extra money-out of town to an Amish restaurant for lunch!
6) The establishment of Tribe
B) Recognition of the, ‘Alpha' ( ? ). In my grandfather's time-as has been demonstrated many times throughout history-the emphasis was on family, the ability to safely rear offspring, and the, ‘sanctity', of the home.
Extensions of immediate, ‘tribe', included near relatives, close friends of similar social status, and...neighbors.
In 1923, there was absolutely NO question of who the, ‘Alpha', was my grandfather; it was he who, ‘ruled the roost', he who, ‘called the shots', and he who earned the money.
Ironically-as can still be found in some Western cultures-anything that had to do with the house, or of running the house was strictly the province of my grandmother. Besides doing the laundry, the cooking, and the cleaning, and the raising of a family, it was she who kept financial records, and to her was given any money earned to spend as she deemed necessary. This was done without question.
In many ways, we continue to consider as the, ‘Alpha', in each of our tribes as he or she who is the major bread winner, he or she who is responsible for the bills. He or she who makes all the important decisions.
It can also be the most senior member of the tribe, or, in tribes where there is only one parent (biological, or not), that person-regardless of gender-becomes the, ‘ Alpha'.
Regardless of the configuration, it remains abundantly clear that each tribe, ‘has to have', a designated, or recognized, ‘Alpha', for cohesiveness, for mutual protection, for prosperity, for order, and for meaning.
7) Income--from the beginnings of, ‘work for wage', to an increasing degree-as may be considered necessary to meet, ‘needs', in addition to , ‘work for goods', or in trading, ‘goods for goods' of considered equal value. In 1923, all of these forms of, ‘income', were in full evidence.
My grandfather did work for monetary considerations. How much he actually, ‘earned', in 1923 is pure guess.
Though in 1931, the, ‘early', though tumultuous, time of the, ‘Great Depression', when-at eleven years of age-my father labored with his father to help make ends meet, together, they earned-at hard labor-about $3.50-4.25 a day, very roughly, 55 %, of the calculated, ‘average', income for that period.
Was my grandfather's family satisfied? Were they happy? In 1923, I would have to say, ‘satisfied'?, yes...'happy'?...probably.
Obviously, this would change greatly only eight years from then.
While our basic, basic needs, and our subsequent, ‘wants', (when the two are considered as concurrent and equal values) have not-perhaps-changed very much since Neanderthal, certainly not since ‘1923', we have seen that when, ‘needs', are fulfilled, we become restless, impatient, and very dissatisfied, particularly when, ‘want', becomes the equivalent of, ‘status'.
My very, very dear, kind friends, and ever-patient, loyal readers, I cannot thank you enough for, ‘staying the course', with me all through this extremely long-and, doubtlessly tiresome-series on the nature of, ‘need', and, ‘want', and how they may-sometimes, drastically-personally affect our perception of, ‘satisfaction', ‘happiness', and, ‘joy'.
Part V, to be continued-and, concluded-with: "2012"
Thank you.
I think of you so very often, ever-wishing for you safety, security, comfort, and...of course, happiness! And all the love your hearts can hold...and more!
And, please, please know I love you dearly!
‘Zahc'/Charles
