degero miro claro

A couple months ago I was reading about a letter George Washington had written while visiting Paris. I can’t remember who the letter was to, or exactly what year, or where I even found the article about the letter; but the main point is that it told me something about the development of our culture. I can’t remember if it was the main subject of the letter, but the most interesting thing about it was that Washington was talking at length about the apples in France and how they compared to the apples in America. He included details about the taste and texture, etc., and concluded that he preferred the apples of America.

I think this is really great and fascinating, because you can really see the difference between the structure and pace of life between that time in history and now. President Obama probably hardly has the time to get enough sleep and join his family for dinner when he can, let alone have a detailed interest in food and time to write a letter discussing the finer points of something like apples (which a lot of people these days probably don’t have a chance to think about beyond the categories of red and green).

Washington actually had the time to experience and enjoy food, and was able to become familiar with the finer differences and tastes. His taking time writing a letter to some one (and I believe, if I remember correctly, he was president at the time the letter was written) comparing French and American APPLES shows how much more time people had in the past and how much more full their lives were. Washington was writing about something the way we would expect a foodie or professional chef or produce expert to write these days, not a politician. But Washington was able to participate in both areas of interest.

Sometimes I feel (at least from my point of view) that the pace of American culture and cultures around the world is much too fast for enjoyment and health, and getting faster and faster. This is always a concern for me because I feel like at some point we’re going to make life not worth living. If all our time is spent working, preparing, facilitating all of the infrastructure of our lives (jobs, insurance, children, child-care, home utilities, doctor’s visits, car maintenance/registrations); all these things we have to take care of. If life becomes to full with duties and time gets shorter and shorter, there won’t be any room to enjoy fine things in life like apples.