My blushing bride has a not-so-secret addiction: home improvement shows. Quite often I join her in laughing at the stupidity of the designers and home owners. One thing neither of us laugh at: wanton destruction.
Let's do a renovation now seems to mean smash everything to hell and gone. Sledge hammers taken to cabinets and counters, rather than removing them or repurposing them.
I come from an old Yankee family. That means fix it, use it up, make do. Kitty's family came from the auld sod, which basically means the same thing. Habitat for Humanity's Re-Store loves us, as do the various charities that we donate items to. A lot of items have gone to friends who needed them at one time or another. Many years ago, during a particularly bad spot, we worked at a fast food chain. We would smuggle out stacks of hamburger buns (all sealed in plastic and very usable) that had gone past its shelf date and were supposed to be compacted; these went to variuous shelters and the Salvation Army. Wanton waste and destruction are anathema to us.
(At least we are not as bad as my brother-in-law who hammered out used, bent nails to reuse them while renovating his house.)
So. Home improvement shows that celebrate destruction, whether it be a cupboard or some great archectural details in an older home. Tell me, is this done because it's someone's idea of good television, or are we just becoming a society that refuses to recognize the value of things?
My mother is a re-user like your brother-in-law. She throws nothing away. it came from raising three children without help, monetary or otherwise, from dear old dad.
ReplyDeleteShe carries it to extremes these days. She saves newspaper bags and uses them to freeze food. I've tried explaining that, first of all, they're dirty9ink on the inside and dirt on the outside, and second that that type of plastic is not designed to protect food.
She pays no attention.