There’s a hilarious moment in the show Queen Charlotte on Netflix. The Queen keeps going down to her garden and attempts to pick an orange. However, every time she reaches out to pluck it, a helper rushes to her side and plucks it for her. It is a symptom of a lifestyle she grows to detest because it is a lifestyle that attempts to isolate her from everything that she considers part of the human experience. She’s isolated from people, helped with her clothes, served great food, and even stopped from picking oranges.
Later in the series, Queen Charlotte finally expresses her frustration at this arrangement and decides to * gasp * pick her oranges herself. It is a fascinating moment because it represents the beginning of a series of events that results in her taking ownership of how she wants to live her life.
That moment got me thinking about modern life. We don’t need royalty levels of wealth to create the life Queen Charlotte had. Grocery and food delivery is more accessible than ever before. Hired help may not be cheap depending on where you live – but it is accessible. It is easier than ever to eliminate the friction.
And while it can seem desirable, I think we’ll all come to the same realization that Queen Charlotte did. It helps to keep some friction. It helps to do the work – to clean some vessels, to iron some clothes, to cook, to garden, to lift something heavy, to get our groceries and so on.
The friction keeps us connected to the world around us.
