craftsmen/artisans vs Cheap goods

[tyger]

I am the grandson of a sharecropper. William Barnett Goodwin raised his family cropping cotton on shares. If that sounds shocking to you, that's fine with me, because it is pretty much shocking to me too. I am 56 years old. It wasn't that long ago.

Posters to this thread have identified 3 groups: people who make do for themselves in myriad self-sufficient ways, people who make money or barter for goods through a skill, practice, or trade, and people who do neither. I have no doubt that each of us can correctly guess which group is the largest. And while the future is always hard to predict, I think that most people who know where they have come from are not blind to the directions that the future offers.

When I decided to get a kilt, and accessories, I decided that I had to have a craftsman-made sporran, belt, buckle, and so forth. How hard it is to find a metalsmith to make a buckle for you? How hard it is to find a buckle that isn't chrome, steel, cast pewter, epoxy, or fake "silver." How hard was it 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 200 years ago? I'll bet your answer was quite correct.

Ever-diminishing trade resources puts a demand upon those same resources, much the same way that the last library of books will be in demand for those who want to hold a book in their hand. One can actually see that coming.

I surely do wish and pray that there will always be people who are willing and able to do good things, the hard things, and the distasteful things that others choose not to do. The future that we make for ourselves and our children will depend on it.