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July 16, 2006
It's Hot Out Here, but Maybe We Lost Our Ability to Adapt, or Just Don't Give a Damn About Our Neighbors.
By:
The Dude on the Right
It's hot here this weekend in the Chicago area, so of course all of the local
news stories are about drinking a lot of fluids, checking on the elderly, and
creative ways to beat the heat. Some try to blame global warming, and I'm
not dismissing the notion of global warming because I do think we are messing up
our environment, but for the most part, lost in all of these stories, is the
fact that there have always been hot spells from time to time, but maybe we have
just lost our ability to adapt as the weather changes, maybe lost some of
our connection as family because we no longer necessarily live near our loved
ones, and we also no longer really give a damn about our neighbors. I for
one thank, I mean blame, one man for this, and his name is
Willis
Carrier, and he is considered the man who invented air conditioning.
There was a time, and I don't remember it, when air conditioning in your home, in your car, at work, at the store, didn't exist. You didn't live your life to be at a comfortable 70ish degrees, you adapted as the temperature outside got higher. You learned how to get a breeze through your house when it worked to your advantage, you kept the windows closed for a time because the coolness of the night was still trapped inside. But your body knew things were getting warmer, because, well, it had been doing so in the weeks leading up to a hot spell, it didn't have the benefit of getting out of the heat for most of the day, and you adapted. And if you were older, your kids probably lived nearby. Nearby so much that they, or at least your grandkids, stopped by to say "Hi Grandma!" at least once a day. And when they did, and Grandma didn't have her fan on, they would say, as kids are want to say, "Grandma, can we put on the fan?" And when they also came over Grandma would offer them something to drink, probably lemonade, and you know what, Grandma would have one, too. Getting the elderly to put on a fan and have something extra to drink were done because we were close enough to visit. Everyday.
And you also probably knew your neighbors because, in a worst case scenario, at the end of the day, when it was cooler outside of the house rather than inside the house, you went outside, and constantly reunited with your neighbors. And back then, neighbors always being nosey yet still being friendly, they would wonder why "Mrs. Thompson" hasn't come out of her house yet, and would actually go over to her house, knock on the door, and politely ask, in that nosey kind of way "Emma, are you all right in there?" If Emma didn't answer, well, her door wasn't locked, and they might find her crying in the kitchen because her husband..., well, in any case, they would get her outside of the house, into the cooler night air, and not to get her out of the stifling hot house, but to just get her out of the house.
This is how I, a Dude who doesn't know life without air conditioning, sort of sees how lots of people in your city didn't die because of the heat, because, back then, I bet it wasn't news that told you to keep cool. You just learned to adapt, and you either had children or grandkids close enough to visit, or at least neighbors who cared to do the same. And you always had some lemonade and stoop to sit on in some cooler night air.
And as much as I like to think of those simpler times, thank you Willis Carrier, because it was 100 degrees here outside the dude-pad today, but inside it was nicely in the 70's. And I even picked up some lemonade at the grocery store because, well, it's summer, and what is summer without lemonade? And you know what, maybe I should get to know my neighbors?
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at July 16, 2006 9:09 PM
