RedCeltic
7th July 2006, 18:42
Last night I had an interesting discussion. I work the night shift (12AM 9AM) at a residence for the developmentally disabled. Anyway, I started getting into a conversation with this woman from Haiti about well you know one of those old person discussions about how kids today dont know the value of. Bla ..bla..bla ( Keep in mind we are both in our 30s. )
Anyway, for some reason we started to talk about how there is so much crap in TV today and how there is just so many TV stations. I mentioned how growing up working class in New York we had one TV with 13 channels if the cable was working. When the dial broke off you had to use a pair of pliers of vice grips in order to change the station. Back in the day you also had UHF which meant that you could if you wanted to broadcast your own TV station. (Which nobody ever did except the University because it was 1) expensive to buy equipment and 2) the stations came out fuzzy. But still, it was an option.) I dont know if there are stations broadcasting on UHF anymore its now mainly used for cell phones.
Anyway, when I asked my co-worker what TV was like in Haiti ( Keep in mind that Im 35 and she is 39) She said, I never saw a television until I came to the United States. When I was a child, we lived in a very small hut; there was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, or anything of that nature. We entertained ourselves after the workday by telling stories. I remember my grandfather, grandmother, and great grand mother all living in the same one room hut with us and would tell us stories they knew and heard from their parents.
I was quite frankly awestruck. I mean growing up the bedroom I shared with my younger brother may have been just as big as her whole house that she shared with a large extended family. She really does show me the high value of family and hard work. (She works two full time jobs, one daytime one nighttime and sleeps 3 hours in between.)
Somehow our conversation turned to food, I dont know how or when, yet I remember mentioning to her that I once worked with a fellow from Guatemala years ago who told me that he could not drink the milk produced in our country because it was not healthy and tainted with chemicals. I admitted that at the time I was quite young and I didnt know of such things that they did to the bovine in this country.
She told me that when she lived in Haiti that they lived from the earth and that everything they ate was natural. They did not eat canned meat, if they wanted fish they fished for it, if they wanted vegetables they grew them and harvested them. And when she came to this country (United States) she was amazed at how much chemicals were put into such a simple product as bread. She was disgusted at how much food people ate out of cans, and how milk in our country seemed to be a sickly substitute for the real thing she knew in Haiti.
I wonder She asked reflectively, What kind of a society are we raising here in America? I have seen children with C or D cup breasts in America who are only 11 or 12. I dont remember seeing such things growing up in Haiti. She said. I confirmed her suspicions that this was all fairly new to our diet by telling her that few children our age developed as quickly.
It is interesting; up until now I had always considered organic foods to be somewhat bourgeois. However hearing what she has to say about the difference between life in Haiti and the United States, now truly has me worried for our children.
Anyway, for some reason we started to talk about how there is so much crap in TV today and how there is just so many TV stations. I mentioned how growing up working class in New York we had one TV with 13 channels if the cable was working. When the dial broke off you had to use a pair of pliers of vice grips in order to change the station. Back in the day you also had UHF which meant that you could if you wanted to broadcast your own TV station. (Which nobody ever did except the University because it was 1) expensive to buy equipment and 2) the stations came out fuzzy. But still, it was an option.) I dont know if there are stations broadcasting on UHF anymore its now mainly used for cell phones.
Anyway, when I asked my co-worker what TV was like in Haiti ( Keep in mind that Im 35 and she is 39) She said, I never saw a television until I came to the United States. When I was a child, we lived in a very small hut; there was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, or anything of that nature. We entertained ourselves after the workday by telling stories. I remember my grandfather, grandmother, and great grand mother all living in the same one room hut with us and would tell us stories they knew and heard from their parents.
I was quite frankly awestruck. I mean growing up the bedroom I shared with my younger brother may have been just as big as her whole house that she shared with a large extended family. She really does show me the high value of family and hard work. (She works two full time jobs, one daytime one nighttime and sleeps 3 hours in between.)
Somehow our conversation turned to food, I dont know how or when, yet I remember mentioning to her that I once worked with a fellow from Guatemala years ago who told me that he could not drink the milk produced in our country because it was not healthy and tainted with chemicals. I admitted that at the time I was quite young and I didnt know of such things that they did to the bovine in this country.
She told me that when she lived in Haiti that they lived from the earth and that everything they ate was natural. They did not eat canned meat, if they wanted fish they fished for it, if they wanted vegetables they grew them and harvested them. And when she came to this country (United States) she was amazed at how much chemicals were put into such a simple product as bread. She was disgusted at how much food people ate out of cans, and how milk in our country seemed to be a sickly substitute for the real thing she knew in Haiti.
I wonder She asked reflectively, What kind of a society are we raising here in America? I have seen children with C or D cup breasts in America who are only 11 or 12. I dont remember seeing such things growing up in Haiti. She said. I confirmed her suspicions that this was all fairly new to our diet by telling her that few children our age developed as quickly.
It is interesting; up until now I had always considered organic foods to be somewhat bourgeois. However hearing what she has to say about the difference between life in Haiti and the United States, now truly has me worried for our children.