I am old enough to have had a grandmother (may she rest in peace) that was an adult through the Great Depression and I was fortunate to share a lots of great memories and love with her. She, as were all of her contemporaries, was a frugal-save-everything-as-you-will-never-know-when-it-comes-in-handy types. Any container or any plastic bag that anything came in was saved. Used wrapping paper, ribbon, old bacon grease and slivers of soaps made the list. The recycling program wasn't a reaction for her generation as neither a glass jars nor a piece of aluminum made it to the refuse bin. Whether she was a content person, I really can't say, but I do know that she didn't anesthetize herself with over consumption of any kind.
My grandmother, though, didn't raise me. This woman did. A little more of a 1970's version but you get the picture. And if you are close to my age, she probably raised you too. I am not saying it was bad. We escaped being disciplined with a switch and dunce hat but we learned some very bad habits that we are adjusting out of now. My parent's generation was sick to death of hearing about the depression. Their childhood was one of never getting anything new or shiny, sharing bath water and all that. Not to mention the switch and dunce hat. One avenue in which that generation illustrated their evolution can be seen in the amount garbage produced. In our particular case, in the 1970's we lived in an upper middle class suburban community. We had 4 large metal garbage cans that the garbage collectors emptied twice a week. That is 8 garbage cans every week. Now I can't begin to imagine what a family of 5 did to produce that much garbage. We weren't alone by any means. Littering was also the norm. So much so there was a public service campaign with crying Indians. You literally would ride in the back of the station wagon and witness people throwing paper bags of fast food garbage out the window. While in contrast you would see old folks at the highway rest stops unwrapping their tuna sandwiches and saving the empty plastic baggies.
So OK my generation doesn't litter and our garbage consumption is down probably 75%. We religiously recycle. But the true virtue of frugality is still missing. If you believe in a virtue I wouldn't think the actions that go along with it would cause suffering. Something though was instilled in my generation that if we had to act like my grandparents generation then something was amiss. And it is, out economy sucks right now. I've even heard a buzz word going around-"Double Dip" recession. Who came up with "Double Dip"? Isn't that reserved for ice cream? Was that on purpose? What term can we throw at them that subliminally denotes pleasure? What about a double shot recession? Needles and alcohol are probably better metaphors.
Regardless, the news about our slow recovery has frightened me. I have a studio the design district of north San Diego county which services Orange county as well. My rent is high given the circumstances. If I hold a class every month, it covers the rent and is a nice spot for the community of artisans to congregate . Right now though, it doesn't seem like those in my industry have extra funds to go learn something new. Even though any of my classes will pay for themselves with the first job landed, you still need some cash and hope at landing that gig.
So as I stand around in my studio really wanting to toss or recycle lots of containers and buckets, I hear my grandmother speak to me from the other side, "Don't throw that away, wash it and save it. With a little elbow grease, it can still be used."
