As those of us in the States know, today is the Fourth of July, where we celebrate our Independence.
I’d like to take a moment to celebrate our individual independence, and ask you for your thoughts. I’ll start:
I am grateful to be independent of:
–arranged marriages
–men making all my decisions for me
–having to wear body-covering clothing all the time, even when it’s 90 degrees out
–worrying about how I can survive as a genteel gentlewoman with very little fortune
–dying in childbirth
–those tiny little sausage curls
–ill-fitting shoes
–listening to ladies who cannot play perform on the pianoforte
–not being able to get more education than what is provided by a governess
–feeling guilty for having sexual thoughts
I am grateful to be dependent on:
–air conditioning
–deodorant
–eyeglasses
–swimsuits
–indoor plumbing (you knew it was coming)
–razors
–makeup
–my iPod
–comfortable shoes
–albuterol for my asthma
So–what about you?
I’m glad to be living in a decade where I don’t have to wear panty hose or heels to be considered respectable. (And by heels, I mean heels of any height.)
I’m glad I don’t have to sleep in curlers every night, or visit a salon every week, to have a respectable hairstyle.
I’m glad for the freedom I get via:
— the internet (including weather and traffic reports!)
— ATMs
— the internet (including Amazon!)
— Credits cards (my card is good at any store, in any state, in most countries — so easy!)
— the internet (including YouTube!)
— DVDS and videos
— everything else on the internet
And I would be very grateful for a life free from cilantro, but I fear it is not to be.
Cara
In addition to your list, I am grateful to be independent of:
–having my social status determined by my birth
–having to wear dresses all the time
–dying of consumption or a bacterial infection (of course, since I work at a hospital where we regularly hear about MRSA, resistant strains of TB, etc., I know this isn’t absolute, but my odds are much better!)
I am grateful to be dependent on:
–the internet
–Chinese takeout and pizza delivery
–reliable birth control
–getting books from all over the country (and occasionally overseas) for free through interlibrary loan
This Independence Day, I’m also grateful for, well, independence. 🙂 I don’t have to marry a Mr. Collins to keep a roof over my head! Or have 18 kids.
I will just add everything from all of your lists to my list! And here are a few of my own.
I’m glad not to have to become some guy’s mistress to supplement my income as an opera singer. I’m also glad not to be thought of as one step above a streetwalker because I WAS an opera singer!
I’m glad not to have to wear a corset!!
I’m glad I can wear drawers and not be thought of as fast!
I’m glad to be free from an arranged marriage ESPECIALLY with a cousin. Some of my second and third cousins ….. SHUDDER!
I’m glad not to have a parent or husband or society decide what it is acceptable for me to read, study, try out or be!
I’m glad I can travel anywhere in the world without a chaperon! I love traveling with friends, but I want them to join in on the mischief, not report it back to someone!
I hate being dependent on a car for transportation. Horses are so much more efficient and fun.
I don’t care that I am dependent on my niece and nephews to get my yard work and home repair done. Hey, they’re younger and slimmer than I am!
I am ever grateful that I won’t made to marry to a (seemingly) ignoble rake in order to settle the gambling debts of my (in truth) ignoble father and brothers.
I’m grateful to…
My grandmother for my love of words, of reading, and of writing
Enid Blyton for the stories she wrote, the comfort they gave a lonely girl, and for lighting her imagination on fire (boom! pop! fizz!)
Gutenberg for the first mass-adopted printing press
DARPA for the Internet
Various scientists and my dad for research in birth control
The freedom to drink tea, the Boston Tea Party notwithstanding
The English for everything, most especially for not still ruling us (or we’d be playing cricket and not baseball, soccer and not football) and for giving us their language (or we’d be speaking French and arguing over conjugation and not punctuation)
I am grateful that women here are free to wear heels or not, show a little leg or not, and can make the decision without worrying about getting stoned for it.
I am grateful to have the freedom for people to be able to write just about anything and that I get the ability to choose what I like to read and get lots of the stuff I like to read. And the freedom to eat any types of chocolate I want, and to think white chocolate isn’t a real type of chocolate and want nothing to do with it. 😉
And not having to be married, or my case probably would be to be a very unsuccessful governess to survive — we have a bit more choice nowadays in that area.
Alas, I have to go opposite, I rather not be glad to be dependent on the asthma meds, but I totally know what you mean. . . once upon a time, there was no such thing as asthma meds. So to have them, it’s better. . . but rather prefer not using them. 🙂
Lois
After seeing your post, I’m grateful that a tall, statuesque brunette wearing a skin-tight red, white and blue outfit and carrying a lasso (i.e., Wonder Woman) is considered a patriotic symbol rather than, say, an offense against public morals.
Todd-who-when-caught-in-the-coils-of-the-golden-lasso-cannot-tell-a-lie