Over the course of every summer my family makes our most meaningful trip of the year. We travel to an old log cabin in the upper right hand reaches of Vermont, a cabin that my grandfather built by hand many years ago. This cabin, unlike what we consider to be the civilized world, has no electricity and for the most part no running water. This has always had many disadvantages, the showers and flush toilets that we all seem to take for granted are now difficult if not completely impossible. But for every reason that this trip is difficult it helps to bring forward our modern way of life, and change the thought process of the entire family.
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It is a very long trip and one that you sometimes feel you cannot possibly survive, but this trip always brings a sense of appreciation into the everyday necessities of the modern world. It’s hard to imagine that one of the most sought after noises in ones day could be the sound of a toilet flushing, or the click of a light switch, but once one goes without it it is quite easy to understand why. Upon return everyone has a new found appreciation for the modern marvels of science that are around us everyday. The excitement of gases in a fluorescent lightbulb, cold drinking water at all times of the day, even what most people consider to be an annoyance such as the beeping of a microwave can cause a new found fascination. It teaches us not only how amazing these common use object are, but it gives us a true feeling of what it used to be like. Having to constantly worry and be careful about your light burning down the house, and having to venture out for clean water everyday, the feel of what many consider “the good old days” is all around you. Nature comes into full bloom and amazes you, without the distraction of a LCD screen, or a phone capable of running more than the early stages of NASA, the real world comes into focus. All the leaves are so much greener, the flowers so much more vibrant, and the sounds of nature are no longer drowned out by the constant electrical buzz. It is with this appreciation and understanding of the world around us that we can begin to learn what is important. Family, friends, and last but not least, toilets, change how our everyday is run. Support and guidance to bring our lives forward, and a lack of constant worry about deadly diseases has brought us farther than one could have possibly imagined. When you return from the trip you don’t bring home any souvenirs from some foreign country, or a tee-shirt stating that you visited, but you bring home a greater feeling of connection, and an appreciation for the advances that mankind has for you, and for the world.
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