It Doesn't Smell Like Roses
The Turning Feral Devotional - Day 67
Day 67: There is a reason that Mike Rowe’s television show “Dirty Jobs,” was such a hit back in the day. I remember catching episodes where he would tag along with garbage truck drivers, sewer repair men, and farmers in order to show the muck, stench, and literal crap that those folks had to wade through everyday just to do their jobs. The funny thing is, myself and the majority of our country couldn’t fathom how people did those sorts of jobs – the very jobs that kept our country running! Yes, our country had pacified us city dwellers so much that it was hard to imagine how anything actually worked or ran. Water turned on, our toilets flushed, and we were all happily oblivious to the thankless work that went on out of sight to keep it that way.
Now, fast forward a few decades and here I sit as a pseudo homesteader with my finger on the trigger of a self-sustained life, and you know what? It stinks. Literally. What people who dream of a “life off grid” don’t realize is that to provide for every aspect of your needs with some degree of modernity is quite difficult, and often gross.
Want to eat meat? Well, those animals you hunt down have to have all of their entrails removed, the brains extracted, and ultimately be hand processed into table fare. Then, if you want to make the most of the animal, you will be stinkily tanning its hide or even turning its stomach lining into a purse, which I assure you is as gross as it sounds.
Want to have running toilets? Well, you probably can guess that our excrement doesn’t just magically disappear into the ether after every flush. If you have a clog in a sewer pipe it’s on you! And with a family of four or more, I can guarantee that this is a job that will come up at some point or another.
Need fresh eggs to eat? Well, those hardy chickens also poop a lot. And when I say a lot… I mean a lot. It can get everywhere and if you don’t stay on top of cleaning it and using it as a compost, then you can quickly find yourself slipping in it and having a bad day.
The examples could continue for a while, but you get the gist. Most urban dwellers have been so far removed from the “dirty” side of living that when you start having to do these things yourself, it can be overwhelming. But, with that said it’s not impossible to start learning!
Daily Prompt: What dirty things are taken care of for you? Is your trash taken to a landfill on your behalf? Do you pay a monthly sewage bill to keep your crap out of sight? Once you identify the many ‘gross’ areas that you pay to not see, maybe take some time to go and see how it is done. Visit your landfill and take in the smell, take a tour of a local butcher or farm, or maybe even visit a sewage treatment plant and then write about it here:
Motivational Passage:
“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
Matthew 13.22
Rewilding Action: As an extension of the daily prompt, I think it’s extremely important for people to understand how public services work. Trash, sewage, water treatment, etc. Look at your monthly bills and go to the website of each of your public works pages and see what information they have – how is your sewage and water treated? Is your trash burned or buried? If you were suddenly thrust into having to provide for each of these things on your own, how would you do it?