The Grim Old Days – Infancy

“In the preindustrial world, infancy was heartbreakingly fragile. Families faced constant loss; many babies died from causes no one understood. Medical advice often made things worse, and religious or medical ideas sometimes blamed mothers or framed tragedy as moral failure. Out of that fear and pressure, some infants were neglected, abandoned, or killed— not because people were monsters, but because poverty, shame, and lack of options crushed them.

At the same time, early laws, juries, and communities were beginning, however unevenly, to treat infanticide as a social problem rather than pure evil, and to build institutions that could help. Looking back isn’t about judging people who had almost no safety net; it’s about seeing how far knowledge, public health, and compassion have moved us. That progress didn’t happen by magic. It came from learning, organizing, and refusing to accept needless loss as ‘just how life is.’”

The Grim Old Days: Birth

The Good Old Days?

If you watch the news, it seems like things are getting worse.  We think it is all going to hell.  The news likes you to believe that so you have a heightened sense of danger, so you will keep watching.

Would you trade places with an ordinary person living 300 years ago? Before you answer, imagine giving up your running water, refrigerator, heating system, and access to modern medicine. We sometimes picture the past as simpler and happier. But how much of that picture includes what it actually took to get through a day?

Chelsea Follett’s book, The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Preindustrial Past, explores life beyond the kings, castles, and famous battles. What did ordinary people eat? Where did they sleep? What happened when they got sick? Drawing on her book, I will post over 25 Think Daily posts that will explore everyday life before industrialization—from birth and childhood to work, food, dentistry, and aging. Some details may surprise you. Others may make you very happy to be alive today.

We still have problems worth solving. But understanding where we started can help us appreciate what we have—and recognize what human effort can accomplish. So much of what we consider ordinary would have been extraordinary to our ancestors. Perhaps a closer look at their lives will help us see our own differently.

I think this is a good exercise for Think Daily readers to get a historical perspective on life today.  These depictions of “The Old Days”, which were really not too many generations ago, can be depressing.  But my intention is the opposite: to make us all happy we are here now, rather than then.  It was not my doing to be born in 1964.  I am glad I was not born in 1864 or 1664!  Life with freedom and capitalism sure has made things better for humans like me.  I hope by the end, you agree more than ever.

I will not do a solid month of ‘Grim Old Days’ posts.  I will sprinkle them in, maybe a few a week.  I hope you “enjoy”.

A healthy mind in a healthy body

I don’t know about you, but if I am not healthy, or when I have no energy, I am not doing my best mental work.  Here is a passage from “Wisdom Takes Work” by Ryan Holiday.

“Today, when we think about Socrates, we think of him as a thinker – a man with a great mind.  But his friends admired him for so much more.  They admired him for his bravery in battle.  They were impressed by his ability to withstand cold and discomfort.  It seems almost unbelievable that Socrates – a philosopher – was kind of a macho figure, but he was.

‘No citizen has any right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training,’ Socrates said at one point.  ‘What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.’

It’s not just a disgrace; it’s a failure of curiosity.  Don’t you want to know what you can do?  Wisdom need not condemn a person to a life of scrawny weakness or a nerdy lack of coordination.

A strong mind needs a strong body and vice versa.  In fact, the Romans considered a poorly educated person someone who hadn’t learned to read or swim.

You need both the mental and the physical.  A person is incomplete and imbalanced if they neglect one in favor of the other.”

5 Things you should not do. 5) Thinking it’s too late.

Saying I love you.  Apologizing.  Showing gratitude.  Telling the truth.  Going on an adventure (with _________ ).

Learning something new.  Visiting __________ .  And _________________ .

If you are breathing, it’s not too late.

This is your chance.  Take advantage of it.

Don’t waste time –

1) Wishing for a different life.

2) Waiting for the perfect moment.

3) Living in regret.

4) Blaming your age.

5) Thinking it’s too late.