Spoiled rotten! That’s what we 21st Century Americans are: spoiled rotten. Myself included.

When I lived overseas twice in the early 1990s — once in Prague, and once in Moscow — I learned to do without a few things I had until then considered essential to the maintenance of everyday life. Oh, not the basics of food and shelter. But the other stuff without which my friends said I would never be able to survive. Like my hairdresser. Or a full-service supermarket. Or my car.

Well, I showed them. I did very nicely, thank you. I did my own hair, rode on subways and buses, and walked all over town with my cloth bags, going from the produce market to the butcher to the bakery to the apteka (pharmacy), and did it all over again a few days later. The exercise was good for me. And in Prague, I even lived without air-conditioning — both at home and at work — throughout the summer months.

But I’ve been thinking about those days, and about how quickly I reverted to my old, spoiled ways when I returned from overseas. And in the past 30 years, it’s only gotten worse because there are things we “need” now that weren’t around back then. So I asked myself recently what “necessities” I thought I could live without, and my answer was: practically none. Damn! I don’t especially like what that says about me, but I’m going to share it with you anyway so that maybe you can feel bad about yourselves too. Misery does love company.

Okay, let’s start with the obvious: our precious electronics.

I was born at least one generation too early to be a real techie. But compared to some of my older friends, I do quite well. I knew one woman who couldn’t set the clock on her VCR (remember those?); another who never learned to drive; and yet another who never progressed beyond a dial phone. Not even a push-button Princess phone! I fully expected her to lift the receiver and ask a non-existent operator to place a number for her. So I’m pretty proud of myself. I have a smart phone, a smart TV, an iPad, a laptop, and I know how to use my kitchen appliances. And that’s more than enough, thank you.

Could I do without any of them? Well, I did . . . for a lot more years than I’ve had them. Of course, they didn’t exist then. But now? How do you leave the house without a phone to call for help, or for someone to reach you in an emergency? There used to be pay phones everywhere, and you always carried change with you; but not anymore. And how do you communicate with your friends all around the world? By snail mail? I don’t think so. Say something really cool happened today — gotta tell everyone, right now, before it becomes old news. Email? Text? Facebook? Take your pick — they’re all absolute necessities.

I do draw the line, for myself, at walking around all day with earbuds or headphones stuck to my head, destroying what’s left of my hearing with the constant blasting of music. And I’m not into gaming. But I know a lot of people who are as attached to those as I am to the iPad sitting on my lap at this moment.

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On the more basic side, think about air-conditioning. I grew up without it, but that was in New England, so it wasn’t often a problem. But even when we moved to Washington, D.C. when I was 13, our first two apartments were not air-conditioned. It wasn’t comfortable, but we survived. And we went to a lot of movies, just to cool off, and ate a lot of popsicles. Would I want to give it up now? Hell, no. Would it kill me? Probably not . . . but I might start wishing it would.

Of course, people survived for eons without some of the things we consider basic: electricity, indoor plumbing, and central heating. But what I find more interesting are the teeny-tiny things. When I arrived in Moscow in 1993, I brought with me a load of supplies and small equipment for our office. The Russian women who worked with me were educated, spoke fluent English, and knew what was going on in the rest of the world. They were familiar with fax machines and copiers. But when I picked up a staple remover to separate some pages, they were floored. There was no such thing in Russia at the time, and it was a wondrous sight to them. They rejoiced at the thought of finally being able to keep their fingernails manicured.

A few years earlier, in a market in Tbilisi, Georgia (the country), I had drawn a crowd of onlookers when I withdrew a pocket pack of Kleenex from my purse and proceeded to blow my nose and throw the used tissue into a trash bin.

In Prague, ice cubes were at a premium, and I became a favorite customer in one restaurant when I very politely asked for ice for my Coke, and then laughed with the waiter at the peculiarities of Americans.

And think about not being able to get aspirin and other pain-relievers, toothbrushes, or toilet paper. There are, even now, many parts of the world where those do not exist.

So yes, we are spoiled . . . and I, for one, am shamelessly glad of it. Could I survive again in a world without staple removers and ice cubes? Sure. But would I want to? Would you?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/1/23