Journal Mekkis's Journal: Meditations on Material Society
Yesterday I went dumpster-diving.
It's funny how this happened, the connection of events that led my lady friend, myself and our two friends to digging through an apartment complex dumpster-- but never mind, that's what happened yesterday evening. Here in Davis, leases end in mid-August. Hence this is the time when the students who could afford to stay in town over the summer have to move out and go elsewhere -- back to the dorms, across town, under the rock from which they crawled out, whatever. So people move out at the last minute and toss whatever they find inconvenient.
From the first dumpster I found a pair of restaurant-grade Calphalon pots (clean & in pristine condition!), several textbooks, a gorgeous crystal bowl with a ceramic stem, a steel CD rack, a solid silver dipper, and the gem: a Siemens C56 cell phone, its account deactivated but otherwise still in perfect working order. Some friends who were walking with us found a lot more. The odd thing was that all this stuff had been mixed in with "real" garbage -- e.g., rotting food and kitchen & bathroom waste. Thankfully most of the slimy/gooey stuff was bagged up so for the most part I didn't actually have to come in contact with it, but the goods in with it were things you might find at a consignment store, not a dumpster. This especially since a thrift store was barely two blocks up the street.
The retail cost of all the crap the four of us pulled out was well over $1,000. Out of curiosity, Robyn and I decided to investigate other dumpsters in other apartment complexes. Much to my chagrin we found even more; about twenty pounds of freshly laundered clothing (male and female), a spice rack full of spices, a bathroom vanity full of candles & essential oils, a full set of dinnerware, several more textbooks, an unused hard drive (still in its packaging!), a bicycle frame, two 55-gallon aquariums (both broken) and lots of other things. We left the bike frame, the broken aquariums and a lot of the clothing but took the rest.
Three dumpsters and a pile of loot later I found myself in navel-gazing mode. I first assumed someone had to have been in an emergency move-out frame-of-mind in order to throw away such high quality things, especially when in such pristine condition. Nonetheless I discovered that the more I dug out, the more bitterness I felt. The more I found, the more intense my sense of disgust and loathing at the society in which I live -- a society which would rather trash or destroy something rather than give it to someone for free. Giving something to someone for free, especially if they're needy, is viewed with contempt...
"You'll only encourage them." (Never mind that the majority of those in poverty are children...) "Don't help that man, it's his own fault he's poor," (Never mind that most adult homeless are mentally ill or handicapped...)
The universities are all full of spoiled mommas' boys and daddys' girls. Gotta get the next thing, gotta get what's trendy. Nothing but convenience and instant gratification means anything to them. Even the tarantula I've kept for three years was a dumpster find, terrarium and all. Now that I think of it, I'm surprised I never found a kitten or a puppy in the dumpster as well.
What does it say about a society that must enforce reckless spending and waste as a means of preventing collapse? We're told the economy must grow at a particular rate to avoid economic disaster, so we're encouraged to dispose of our things-- no matter how high-quality-- and go out to buy more. Gotta keep the economy strong in order to maintain our nation's "superiority". This *is* God's chosen nation, after all, so it's your Christian duty to shop, shop, shop.
It stuns me to think of all the other people in the world who could benefit from what these spoiled children think of as "trash", never mind the resources that went into the creation of goods that wind up in those dumpsters. We say: "Quick, we need your land! We need your labor! Sacrifice your children to the factories! Never mind the horrendous working conditions, we need the you to make stuff faster because we can't throw it fast enough!" Because, after all, it's our God-given right to hold the world at nuke-point while we gobble all the resources on the planet-- just so we can shit them back out into our landfills. Then we get to go to church and pray to Jesus so he can pat us on our heads and make us feel better about ourselves.
...then we have the gall to ask why they hate us.
It's funny how this happened, the connection of events that led my lady friend, myself and our two friends to digging through an apartment complex dumpster-- but never mind, that's what happened yesterday evening. Here in Davis, leases end in mid-August. Hence this is the time when the students who could afford to stay in town over the summer have to move out and go elsewhere -- back to the dorms, across town, under the rock from which they crawled out, whatever. So people move out at the last minute and toss whatever they find inconvenient.
From the first dumpster I found a pair of restaurant-grade Calphalon pots (clean & in pristine condition!), several textbooks, a gorgeous crystal bowl with a ceramic stem, a steel CD rack, a solid silver dipper, and the gem: a Siemens C56 cell phone, its account deactivated but otherwise still in perfect working order. Some friends who were walking with us found a lot more. The odd thing was that all this stuff had been mixed in with "real" garbage -- e.g., rotting food and kitchen & bathroom waste. Thankfully most of the slimy/gooey stuff was bagged up so for the most part I didn't actually have to come in contact with it, but the goods in with it were things you might find at a consignment store, not a dumpster. This especially since a thrift store was barely two blocks up the street.
The retail cost of all the crap the four of us pulled out was well over $1,000. Out of curiosity, Robyn and I decided to investigate other dumpsters in other apartment complexes. Much to my chagrin we found even more; about twenty pounds of freshly laundered clothing (male and female), a spice rack full of spices, a bathroom vanity full of candles & essential oils, a full set of dinnerware, several more textbooks, an unused hard drive (still in its packaging!), a bicycle frame, two 55-gallon aquariums (both broken) and lots of other things. We left the bike frame, the broken aquariums and a lot of the clothing but took the rest.
Three dumpsters and a pile of loot later I found myself in navel-gazing mode. I first assumed someone had to have been in an emergency move-out frame-of-mind in order to throw away such high quality things, especially when in such pristine condition. Nonetheless I discovered that the more I dug out, the more bitterness I felt. The more I found, the more intense my sense of disgust and loathing at the society in which I live -- a society which would rather trash or destroy something rather than give it to someone for free. Giving something to someone for free, especially if they're needy, is viewed with contempt...
"You'll only encourage them." (Never mind that the majority of those in poverty are children...) "Don't help that man, it's his own fault he's poor," (Never mind that most adult homeless are mentally ill or handicapped...)
The universities are all full of spoiled mommas' boys and daddys' girls. Gotta get the next thing, gotta get what's trendy. Nothing but convenience and instant gratification means anything to them. Even the tarantula I've kept for three years was a dumpster find, terrarium and all. Now that I think of it, I'm surprised I never found a kitten or a puppy in the dumpster as well.
What does it say about a society that must enforce reckless spending and waste as a means of preventing collapse? We're told the economy must grow at a particular rate to avoid economic disaster, so we're encouraged to dispose of our things-- no matter how high-quality-- and go out to buy more. Gotta keep the economy strong in order to maintain our nation's "superiority". This *is* God's chosen nation, after all, so it's your Christian duty to shop, shop, shop.
It stuns me to think of all the other people in the world who could benefit from what these spoiled children think of as "trash", never mind the resources that went into the creation of goods that wind up in those dumpsters. We say: "Quick, we need your land! We need your labor! Sacrifice your children to the factories! Never mind the horrendous working conditions, we need the you to make stuff faster because we can't throw it fast enough!" Because, after all, it's our God-given right to hold the world at nuke-point while we gobble all the resources on the planet-- just so we can shit them back out into our landfills. Then we get to go to church and pray to Jesus so he can pat us on our heads and make us feel better about ourselves.
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