Save Trees. Dumpster Dive

Aaron & I took a trip to Office Depot to see how much new boxes cost since we are moving to a new home. A sign claiming "Great Deal" turned out to be not so great. It was something like 4 rather small boxes for $20.

I don't think so! I have worked far too many retail jobs to ever justify buying new boxes. When I worked at the Pottery Barn, they recycled for a while and then stopped altogether because the new dumpsters "looked nicer." Mind you, this was behind the building!

I am no hippy however, what about the earth? It made me feel awful knowing how many hundreds of boxes were thrown out each day, and this was just for one store. Not only is this sad for the earth, it's unfortunate that so many lower class families are having to spend money on dumb old boxes to move with, when they are thrown out by the tons every day.

The U.S. is great in so many ways but it is sad how we are such a "disposable" society. I feel that many things are not produced for long lasting quality as they were more often when I was a child. Also often times, it's just more convenient to buy new things.

I also feel that we have crossed our disposable mentality from literal things to relationships, as we tend to no longer support marriage or long-term, monogamous relationships. The bigger, faster, new car upgrade, has now influenced our choices in mates. The woman in a relationship is upgraded. The face is lifted, the tummy tucked, or the woman is traded for a younger, more energetic and impressionable woman. The man can be easily written off for not making enough money to support habit or taste.

I didn't mean for this blog post to become my soap box today, but this is how I have seen the world lately from what I have noticed in observations, experience, advertisements and the media.

Needless to say, we spent 20 minutes at various business dumpsters around our apartment and got all the clean, barely used boxes we needed to pack our belongings (with plenty of green to spend on a nice lunch.)

I think it's important to remember that diversity happens in life and it's never fun, but we are stronger for learning how to cope and think critically. I have greater peace when facing problems rather than when I choose to deny them. The search for perfection is a never ending search, whether the happiness is sought from things or relationships. We've got to make the best of what we have and evolve within it. We must also strive to be mindful of the earth and fellow beings.

[END SOAP BOX]

Thanks for observing my point of view.
Alina