Ponderings from a nail-clipping

I stepped outside to clip my fingernails, just to not have to worry where the scraps fell. I was greeted by the sound of a neighbor lady, this is certain without even seeing the person, pounding some grain (more than likely) with the traditional mortar and pestle. The same sort which probably has been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Then comes the insect-like trill of what we would consider an old-timey sewing machine (the kind with the manual foot pedal) from another neighbor. This individual, again I could almost say it without seeing his face, although I know who he is, is a man. Interestingly, here the profession of tailor is almost exclusively a masculine occupation. Then another sound, the growl of a moto (a scrawny version of a motocycle) comes closer and closer until it passes my house. Other fainter sounds in the distance I suspect to be the commotion of a crowd and perhaps the murmurings of a TV set. I’m done with the manicure. I decide the porch needs to be swept. It of course has needed to be swept for a while, but I can endure more dust than my mom or most women. Still I do try to keep my house a couple steps above that of a college student.

Anyway, this is one of the moments when I pause to think of this interesting place in which I live. It is such a blend of epochs. The mortar and pestle have long been replaced in our culture by mills and machines and factories that do the work for us then neatly package the product and ship it to our local grocery store for our convenience. That’s not to mention the fact that most of us know nothing of the work required to actually grow the grains and vegetable and other items that we simply place in the shopping cart. Thank God for the farmers! And those farmers in Breckinridge County and throughout the developed world should thank God for the plows and combines and tractors and other machines that they are blessed to use. As for the sewing machine across the street, it might fetch a pretty penny in the States, but not for its usefulness, but because it would make a nice antique to display in someone’s living room. Then there are the motos and TV sets and other items of modernity for our ease, comfort, and leisure. But of course we are not talking about plasma TVs and TiVo and satellites with thousands of channels. Nonetheless, more and more, these sorts of things are becoming attainable here for the “wealthy.” I use the quotes because “wealthy,” of course, is a relative term; the people with the TVs and motos are often the same who pound the grain with the mortar and pestle. I must also think of my two years in Torla, a small village (they say about 3000 people) which to my knowledge and recollection had a total of two TVs and about five motos. The village folk are still far behind most here in metropolitan Bobo in terms of amenities and possessions Well, these are simply some random thoughts. My original purpose was simply to try to give a little description of one short minute of nail clipping. What I have achieved, I do not know.