The Dining Table
by Ian Curtress
The demise of the
dining table and with it the family.
The highlight of day used to be sitting
down to dinner, the family complete and
ready to eat together, using cutlery!
Enjoying real food cooked with love by
real people .
An atmosphere as no other.
Relating incidents which had occurred in
“your day” good, bad, funny or
thought provoking.
The room came to life. Discussions, never
arguments.
Confrontation was not a national pastime
in those days !
Jointly we found answers to problems,
aired differences. Used our minds, a
novelty today.
We didn’t have to ask Alexa. Go to
Google. We thought for ourselves and had
great satisfaction in so doing. We read
books!
We weren’t robots waiting for
American marketing teams to lead us into
their world of the herd and mindless.
There was an unwritten rule that no one
left the table until all had finished,
this was never used as we were all
reluctant so to do.
Bedrooms were for sleeping or quietly
doing home work.
Members of the family were Not Lodgers.
When young we made friends. Not gangs! We
had fun, got up to mischief (look it up).
Enjoyed their company. Did not write
illiterate filth about them because they
said something to which we didn’t
agree.
Could read, write and spell our lovely
language. Could express ourselves. Not
txt!
All this was our world. The Thirties.
Money was tight, war was on the horizon
and an idyllic childhood was about to
experience unbelievable loss and horror.
This may seem a contradiction but during
the years which followed I experienced
the
British people at their best. Their
finest hour.
Courage beyond words by Men, Women and
children.
Built on a society with family values.
Years of affluence has bred the most weak,
illiterate and degenerate society.
Drug dependant, unable to appreciate the
environment, beauty or the written word.
A society which replaced Love with Sex.
All the above brought to the fore by the
pandemic.
The warped attitudes, behaviour and lack
of substance and indeed cowardice has
been there for all to see.
Start their day by checking on Facebook,
Google and YouTube to find what they
should be thinking for the next twenty
four hours.
There is hope. There is still a core of
intelligent, caring young people.
Individuals brought up with sound roots
and values
Everyday one now reads examples of
selfless acts. People who care for people
and their Country.
I have to believe their numbers will
increase and there is hope for a better
world for my GreatGrandChildren. |
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