Waste

Truism Seven: Waste hurts.

On your first birthday, your parent had to help you open your presents. The two of you ripped off the paper, piled through the filler and threw down the box. Your parent had to tell you what you had been given–this do-dad. At the time, you would have been as happy playing with the paper, the filler or the box. “No, that is not your present. We gave you the do-dad.” By the time you became four, all by yourself, you ripped through the paper, the filler and the box, only to learn that Uncle Pete got you the wrong colored do-dad. You sighed and your parent said, “Thank Uncle Pete…He didn’t know exactly what you wanted.”

Information here: You didn’t know what you wanted. You had been told over and over and over by the people that made the do-dad what you wanted.

As we grow older, we forget the wonderfulness of waste–the stuff we throw away. We have to learn uselessness. We had to learn we don’t like the mashed potatoes on the plate. “Eat three more bites.”  Plates are seldom empty when we finish eating.

The paper and plastic and aluminum we throw away contaminate our atmosphere. The debris we discard litters our landscape. Of course, living creates waste and it must be disposed of or recycled. We cannot live in a world cluttered to the brim. Still, people are far to willing to not take full advantage of the do-dads in our lives. It is far easier to do away with the old and replace things with newer do-dads. I say this as an old and aging do-dad, myself.