NEVER OBSOLETE

 

As I approach my 71^st trip around the sun (4/26), I have much to reflect on. I suppose that’s natural for someone whose life is now mostly behind them. Don’t get me wrong, I intend to live a lot longer. Apparently, it’s in my Sicilian genes; my mother lived to 99+ as HER mother did. Be that as it may, it’s safe to say there’s more highway behind me than in front.

One of the thoughts I keep returning to is the value in “old things,” including people. And I keep coming up with the terms “expiration date” and “planned obsolescence.” They are certainly related but not the same. EVERYTHING has an end date, i.e. a time when something will no longer exist. It just wears out. Even the universe itself will someday collapse in on itself and simply expire. This is the natural way of things.

However, planned obsolescence is something completely different. Rather than naturally occurring, as its name suggests, it is something manufactured in the minds of men. It’s a willful application rather than a natural one. And it applies to virtually everything made by the hand of man with rare exception. In our society few things besides good whiskey, rare coins, and great art, are created to last forever. We COULD make things that consider a more natural end (i.e. worn out), but we don’t. That doesn’t make good business sense. Manufacturers need things to fail deliberately so they can sell you more. Fair enough, but where do we draw the line? I understand technology changes – rapidly. I will not/cannot stand in the way. But his is PLANNED. Landfills can only handle so much more discarded junk.

Speaking for myself, I get great joy in making something – anything – last for as long as they possibly can. These include shoes, clothing, machines, pottery, furniture, and cars among other things I can cobble together. I love innovating repair methods to things that probably should have been thrown away a long time ago – at least according to my partner Amanda. I will use glue, staples, wire, cable ties, paint, screws and/or nails to accomplish my goals. Once my sneakers wear out, I will glue them back together (if necessary) and then recycle them as garden shoes. I’ve been known to use tape to repair a favorite pair of pants. If they get too bad, they don’t get thrown away. They also get recycled as work pants. I may still have clothes older than some of my readers. And, yes, that drives Amanda crazy too. I’ll try to save a virtually dead plant, simply because it has one pathetic leaf left on it. In my mind, EVERYTHING deserves to last as long as they possibly can.

It’s not that I can’t afford new things. I am very fortunate and grateful to have had a successful career that allows me a certain level of comfort and choice in my “old age.” And I’m not cheap. Frugal, yes. Cheap no. It’s more of a mindset. And it should be applied to people above all else. We should look to find value in everything, especially since I have often found it long after their so-called “planned” expiration dates. If I can find it in an old pair of sneakers, I must certainly be able to discover it in an older person! Yes, things get repurposed (like my sneakers). I can no longer physically do the things I could when I was 25. And I don’t have to because I continually repurpose myself to be productive and ALIVE. I have a lot left to give and intend to do so until no nail, glue, staple, screw, rope, adhesive or foreign substance can put me back together again. Then I’ll have reached my expiration date. But I’ll never be “obsolete.”