Where families once lived, worked and played

[Donald]

"Andy Wightman, campaigner and author on land ownership and use in Scotland entitled his book"

Donald, I think that you could produce a related book if you have more images like this...

Maybe a collaboration?

That's very kind of you, but I think Andy Wightman is way out of my league. I have heard him speak and he is wonderful. He is now a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Green Party.

[proseak]

Have you more pictures like this, Donald?

[Rita]

You have definitely evoked desolation and isolation in this capture. I love the textures and mood of the image.

[chauncey]

You say that as if it's something we should just accept

That is not what I'm saying...maybe if we all did something on a personal level, it would be a start.

[george013]

You should read Utopia from Thomas More. First published early 16th century. In the first part he describes the political and economical system in England. Farmers where driven out from there land by sheep. The wool that was exported to Flandres was more lucrative than the food for the people. In the second part he describes how a state would/have to function.
It's mostly a cheap book, no copyright on it more.. And easy to read.

From the Irish situation we still have a word that reminds us to the struggle of the Irish farmers against the influence of the Scottish and English nobel: boycott.

About the photo, to me a bit to dark on the ground. I know you like it this way.

George

[rpcrowe]

Couldn't agree more.

Poverty is not an inevitability . It is a structure delibearately visited on the many poor by the wealthy in order to maintain the power balance in their favour.

I totally agree but, would like to add that some cultural norms also have a great deal to do with poverty, especially the abundance of children among some of the poorer groups.

As an example, I am going to paint some groups with a rather broad brush, understanding that this generality doesn't apply to every one in the groups. However, it does apply to many, perhaps most, within these groups.

The two groups that I am speaking of are the more affluent Hispanics and the poorer Hispanics (on both sides of the Border).

The poorer group, who can afford them least, appear to have many more children while the more affluent group, who could afford more children, appear to have far fewer (even as low as one or two per family)... Education, availability of birth control and cultural norms have a lot to do with this difference in family size. Religion can also impact the number of kids. The number of children can certainly impact a family in many ways, some positive but, if there are too many mouths to feed with a low wage, the abundance of children may impact in many more negative ways.

There are also certain leaders within groups who want the group to expand in numbers because of the political power that affords these leaders.

I would venture a guess that, this family size difference based on affluence is not restricted to the Hispanic population but, may be prevalent in many other cultures.

There is another way that a culture will prevail as a lower economic structure. That is doggedly retaining their own language when living in a country that speaks a different language. My maternal grandparents migrated from Germany in the later 1800's. When my uncle, who was born in the U.S.A. soon after my grandparents arrived, went to school, he could not speak English and that caused him lots of problems. Later in his life, when I was a teenager, I asked him why he could no longer speak German (he spoke English fluently without a trace of an accent). He simply said that in order to make a decent living, he realized that he needed to speak English and decided that English would be his language of choice. His fluency in German just died on the vine. He had absolutely no regrets about his language choice.

When his younger sister, my mother, entered school, she was bi-lingual in English-German. Because, my grand parents realizing the problems speaking German in the home caused my uncle, decided to speak English as much as possible. I did not know my maternal grandfather, who died before I was born, but, at a young age I was very close to my grandmother. She spoke English with very little if any accent. Naturally, she could still speak German but, her first language had become English.

Final comment...

The desolation that was impacted upon the poorer folks of Scotland and Ireland was a boon to the other lands of the British Commonwealth as well as to the United States. There are folks with Scottish and Irish blood all over the world (I am one of them) who are greatly contributing to the nations in which they are living, but are still immensely proud of their Scottish and Irish heritage. . These folks can usually trace their residence in the new lands directly to the hardship that was forced upon their ancestors in Scotland and Ireland...

[tao2]

Poor people have many children because many poor children die...usually when they're still children...

[rpcrowe]

Poor people have many children because many poor children die...usually when they're still children...

Very true Boab! Additionally, many of the poorer folks need children to support them in their older age.

The heavy death rate of children and babies was especially prevalent in the crowded urban centers of Europe and the U.K.! While researching my ancestors, I realized two facts:

My ancestors from England, Ireland and Scotland who were of the poorer class, had a life expectancy far lower than those of my ancestors who were of the more affluent class. Many had children who did not live to be adults. Contrasted to them, many of my ancestors from Scotland's noble class lived quite long lives (unless they fell in battle in many of the wars against England).

Ancestors who migrated from Ireland and settled on the frontier of America, seemed to have a longer live expectancy than those who remained in the old country or those that settled in American Cities. In fact, I have one ancestor, Samuel Riley (known as the "White Trader") who lived on what was then the frontier of South Carolina married two Cherokee maidens (the daughters of a chief) and had a total of sixteen children with these two gals. All of the children lived to adulthood. That was amazing in the early 1700's