Moments of Reflection

I had fun playing with a photo of one of my friends.  I think it turned out well.  

What do you think?  

I think she looks like a heroine right out of Jane Austen.

However, I suppose that begs that question: Would you WANT to be a Jane Austen heroine?  I mean, in those days, marrying well was your only hope of bettering yourself, or providing for your future.

Heaven help you if you were a talented female in those days!  Your opportunities to develop talents, especially in areas of math and science, or even business, would have been few, if any.  Women who ran businesses were by and large considered "loose" and would be shunned by society.

Even today, there are places in the world where women are severely limited as to what they can do to provide for themselves, or in being able to gain an education.

I am often reminded how lucky I am to have a good education, the opportunity to earn a living and take care of myself, and be able to come and go (even drive a car!) as I please.

Besides, in Jane Austen's time there was no Tylenol, Aspirin, allergy medications, decent hospital care, prenatal care or air conditioning.  

However nostalgic I occasionally get for the past, these simple, and often totally taken for granted, blessings of modern day every day life make me realize I wouldn't make a very good 19th century woman.  It also makes me thankful for the women who have gone before me.

Thanks, ladies!  I hope someday to thank you personally for all you have suffered so I could be born NOW and enjoy what I enjoy of modern life.

And my apologies to Miss Austen.