Are you spoilt?
Have you become so used to the basic luxuries of life that without them, you would not be able to exist?
What, if anything, do you consider Essentials in or to your life? [i.e., Except that which you MUST have in order to exist - Oxygen]
What are your basic luxuries?
I have been following the weather and all the flooding and after effects of the different thurnderstorms, hurricanes, and also remembering other conditions, such as recent fire disasters, etc.
We human are a resilient bunch. We might be thrown into any given situation, sometimes we come out of it unscathe, with our life in tact that is, however our livihood, most times it is not the same. These types of situations heap havoc on our lifestyles and our livihood, and it takes some time to recover from these events.
Some people have to go without water, food, electricity, at one or at the same time. Some manage to survive because it is only for a few hours or days or weeks, without one or the other. Of course we know that surviving without food and water, well, that is not a good thing, and may in fact, be the death of us! Thank heavens, in many cases, that has not happened, at least, not that I have heard!
Some countries however, are not so lucky. Take Haiti for example, those people are really roughing it. They have no running water, no electricity, and sometimes no food. Sixty people have died so far, mostly because of the flooding that occured from the recent hurricanes.
Even without bad weather involved, there are people who exists in other countries who don't have the necessities, running water and electricity, and sometimes gasolene. And yet they do survive, some quite happily because they don't have the big bills to pay on a monthly basis! Of course, if they never have it, they don't miss it, right?!
I have rough it before. I remember as a child, my mom's and dad's hometown, was a small tounship within the Island of Jamaica, within the Parish they came from. They had no electricity, and no running water. For me, as a child, and one from the 'big' city of Kingston at that, it was at first appalling, then absolutely adventurerous! Bathing in the river, going to the spring to fetch fresh water, setting up the trough to catch rainwater, reading by candlelight, entertaining ourselves at night fall, or even during the daylight, without televisions and computers! Those were the days, fun days and I, all of my siblings, we survived!
I could rough it if I had to as a grown up today and I have! A few years ago here, we went without electricity for a week! My kids went crazy, but it was fun living without computers, and electronic devises for a bit, at least while at home, at work, they were there after a few days! It would have been worse did we not have water in our facets or even bottled water to drink I'm sure!
For me, having water IS Essential! I can exist without electricity, but Water, that is my necessity! Food comes second, not too far behind of course! Staying dry and having somewhere safe to sleep are part of the basic luxuries I need!