It is Saturday morning, and I am not out on a training hike but doing Saturday morning chores. This is part of the challenge of Peaking At 70... not just the training, or the need to complete all the daily, weekly, monthly tasks any working person has, or the medical issues associated with tree pollen and colitis flare-ups (see earlier post on Setbacks...), but also the need to stay current on events, as what's happening right now is, of course, symptomatic of the America we wish to rediscover. And, and again of course, these events are not alone but need to be put in context so the current makes sense and meshes with the historical. Right now we need to talk about the cultural significance of lard.
Where I should be... instead, with lard on my mind, it's off to the dump!
I'm on my way to the dump, listening to a classic radio station that is rebroadcasting a program from early 1945--The George and Gracie Show. George Burns and Gracie Allen, what a hoot. Fun. Funny. These old radio programs from before the time of television led you into imagining the scenes, the conflicts, the silly resolutions. This one is an enjoyable break from the program I had been listening to about White Privilege.
Of interest, this morning, are the advertisements. The soap company commercials are built right into the script of the program, blending seamlessly with the dialogue.
There is also the war announcements. This is April 1945. World War II is raging. The U.S. Fifth Army has opened a major offensive in the Po Valley in Italy, and the Allies are heightening their search for German U-boats of the Wolfpack Seawolf suspected to be heading to the U.S. east coast equipped with V-1 or V-2 rockets. The nation is also mourning the Death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The war announcements/ads, I'm guessing, are precursors to today's Public Service Announcements. One suspects that in 1945 they received greater attention.
"Are you saving lard?" That's what the announcer wanted to know. Lard, 1945!!! "Are you donating lard for the war effort?" This is a plea for lard. Lard is important for the war effort! Seventy two years ago animal fat was an asset, and donating it was a patriotic act. Today lard is treated not only as an unwanted by-product, but seemingly as a toxin (kind of like carbon dioxide).
Of course, lard, at least on some diets, has been re-recognized as an important part of one's intake. The energy from fat may keep one from overeating carbohydrates; and unlike sugars and some carbs, fats don't feed candida or other "bad" yeast infestations.
But, for a moment, think about this call for lard--collecting it and donating it--think about it from an economic perspective. Once it was an important asset; today I'd venture a guess that few people can recall their mothers, grandmothers or great grandmothers pouring grease from a pan into a tin on the stove where it would cool and solidify. Actually, I do recall my mother doing this when I was very young--perhaps five or six years--seven or eight years after this George and Gracie broadcast. Once a standard practice, I'm again guessing, most of us discard the lard as waste. Even today's poorest Americans dubiously collect it.
O' Dear Lard! The announcement reminded me of just how privileged were all the folks of my parents generation. If you're using the Trumps or the Clintons, The Buffets or the Koch brothers as your model or racial privilege, isn't it time for a paradigm shift?
Visit us at www.peakingat70.com and let us know your thoughts on white privilege, what they're based on. Current thoughts and historical realities just might not mesh.