What Would You Choose?

Years ago when the colonies were first being settled, the different nationalities of people brought with them old ideas to the new world.  Some were very good, but others were quite bizarre.  The Salem witch trials are one example of the horrors of some beliefs.

One of the tests to see if one was a witch was to tie their hands and feet and attach rocks to them.  The person (men were also accused at these trials and said to be warlocks) would then be thrown into a body of water.  If said person floated to the top of the water, they were confirmed as being a witch/warlock.  If the person drowned, they were said to be innocent.  Being that the person would drown (if innocent) or be burned at the stake (if guilty), it is obvious that you would not win either way. 

According to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation website, “The extent to which the colonists’ lives were influenced by what we consider irrational and just plain silly is staggering.  their lives were informed by a firm belief in evil forces that stalked them daily. The devil, witches, and magic were, in some colonists’ minds, real and terrifying. Poor hunting or fishing could be put down to a magic spell cast by a malicious neighbor. Prodigies—anything strange and out of the ordinary in the natural world, from earthquakes, meteorites, and thunderbolts to oddly shaped root vegetables— would have people quaking with the expectation that the day of judgment was nigh. Charms and amulets were credited with keeping the devil at bay. Horseshoes nailed to our twenty-first-century suburban doors are a hangover from those days. Witchcraft—including sticking pins in dolls that resembled the intended victims—was blamed for the sickness and death of loved ones and livestock. It was not something to be meddled with.”

I guess to some of us that seems like the dark ages and that people could not possibly have believed those things.  But, we all have our little superstitions and “oddities” that we go by on a daily basis.  Although those times seem harsh, are we really any more “civil” in our modern world?  There are so many places where murder, war and starvation are still rampant and accepted.  To me, that seems worse.

I often wonder what I would be doing if I did not have MS.  Would I still be working?  Would I have a garden?  Would I be constantly changing the furniture around and redecorating?  So many things come to mind that I used to do when more able to function.  

But, I am more settled now, have more peace within myself and am fairly content with my daily (lack of?) activities.  Would I trade then for now?  Which time of life would I choose?  What about you…………..which would YOU choose??