8 Interesting facts about daily life in the past..
8 Interesting facts about daily life in the past.
Often, the look at the past seems strangely veiled, pink for some, dark gray for others. Was everything better before? Or have we, fortunately, left the old times behind us? In any case, it is impossible to assess globally what life was like in the past.
Nevertheless, examining some interesting facts from the daily life of our grandparents helps us reflect anew on the present. Some things then appear in a different light than we are used to.
Life in the past: 8 interesting facts to ponder.
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“My grandmother is not green”? My eye!
That young people are interested in the topic of sustainability is a good thing in itself. But arrogance is out of place. Because when it comes to sustainability, the younger generation has a lot to learn from the older ones! In the past, it was natural to eat in season: the vegetables were fresh and came from the region, even from the garden. For the winter, we made preserves of cucumbers and compotes. Clothes, furniture and tools were passed down from generation to generation, broken objects were repaired.
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Fruit was treats.
In the past, it would have been absurd to force children to eat fruit. Fruits were considered candy, simply because they are delicious. It would be good to rediscover the great flavor of what nature offers us. Healthy eating will then take care of itself.
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Knowing how to read was not easy.
What was normal for a long time in Western Europe has only slowly taken hold in the rest of the world. In 1970, only 65% of girls in the world had ever seen the inside of a school. In 2015, this figure rose to 90%.
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There were toys galore.
Every wire, every stick, every empty tin can and every soapbox could become a toy. All it took was a little imagination and space and the children already had everything they needed to have fun.
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Smoking was a sign of emancipation.
Until the late 1940s, smoking was a symbol of the feminist movement. With cigarettes, women showed publicly that they wanted to be entitled to the same pleasure as men. A blatant outrage for moral guardians, who called women who smoked “men” but for some men, women with a cigarette were also a projection screen for erotic fantasies. Today, it is hard to imagine how a purely symbolic gesture, which can at most cause lung cancer, could have triggered such an outcry.
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Women were not allowed to play football.
In England, the first women’s team was created as early as 1894, and the first game was held the following year in front of 10,000 spectators. Despite this, women’s football has long been frowned upon and even banned by many sports federations. Fortunately, this did not bother the women much. In West Germany alone, up to 60,000 women continued to gamble “illegally” and organize themselves until the sports federations finally ceased their opposition in the 1970s.
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Durability was important.
Whether weak points are purposefully integrated into products today is controversial. But the fact is that customers and manufacturers used to place much more importance on quality and durability than on technical refinements and favorable prices. Along the way, it avoided waste and conserved resources.
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Social cohesion was stronger.
The willingness to help friends and neighbors has steadily declined since the 1970s. People are getting better and better: it is no longer necessary to help each other. But at the same time, something is lost: mutual trust, cordiality and neighborly ties. Maybe we should just be there for each other more often, even when there is no emergency. Simply because it feels good.
If we close our eyes to the past, we cannot see the present. Men have accomplished many things and yet it is always worth looking back: either to appreciate what has been accomplished, or to be sure of what we want to preserve.
