Marc YachtU.S. families are in a funk, the country has lost its sense of humor and nobody laughs anymore. How did a nation evolve from the fun-loving ’50s and ’60s with drive-in theaters and sock hops to 50 percent-plus divorce rates and “apathetic” children? Any psychiatrist or psychologist worth his salt would describe this nation’s families as collectively dysfunctional. Who or what is the culprit?
Instant coffee tops the list that started too many families on the road to ruin. Once one gives up quality for expediency, the descent has started. Stirring up powder in boiling water is no way to start a day. The hot, feckless liquid imbibed may impose serious effects on the psyche and no end of problems for digestion. What has been saved? A measly 10 minutes to brew a decent pot. The effect on the maker supplanting real brew with dissolved brown sand is incalculable. The guilt is immeasurable.
Rule No. One: Never, ever drink or prepare instant coffee.
The microwave oven adds to those common household items that have had destructive effects on married households. The cook can no longer enjoy the satisfaction of baking, broiling or even frying a meal. Vegetables and the main course are no longer seasoned.
The art of cooking is giving way to short-time preparation. Piling everything together and throwing it into the microwave for a meal-countdown is no way to eat. The family dinner is obsolete. All meals are eat and run.
Into the microwave it goes, out comes a tasteless blob called food and into the stomach. It is entirely possible that the ingredients are unknown to the eater. There are stories of dog food thrown into the nuke-box then being scarfed down without knowledge or comment. Families eating in this manner are losing touch with each other. They are just ships passing in the night.
Rule No. Two: The microwave must go.
The dishwasher decreases family member interactions. The husband would wash, the wife would dry and the children would put away the dishes. Perhaps one would break and together all would clean up. The family dog would grouse around hoping for scraps. A family picture best depicted by the illustrator Norman Rockwell. Now the dishes get thrown into the dishwasher and all family members disappear. An intimate moment of family life is lost to a machine.
Rule No. Three: Give away the dishwasher.
The noisy garbage disposal has replaced the family tradition of taking out the garbage. No one should ever hear such dissonant grating noise after a meal. Imagine relaxing with a cup of good coffee and homemade pie hoping for friendly conversation among kin. The grinding of that damnable machine will chase anybody in earshot a mile away. The dog will start barking, the cat will dart up the stairs and serenity is gone.
Rule No. Four: Deep six the garbage disposal.
There are so many intrusions that have undermined contented family life. The technological leap has dehumanized relationships, dismantled loyalties and focused dependence on devices. Reading, serious study and personal interaction have given way to shortcuts.
The poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” Yet, we are becoming individual flotillas losing connection to one another as families, friends and co-workers. If human sensitivity is lost, we become those very depended-upon contraptions. Machines mete out neither joy nor laughter.
Marc Yacht, MD is a semi-retired physician living in Hudson, Florida. Column is courtesy of Context Florida.
