Wasted

One of the many definitions of waste is to use or spend to excess and carelessly. Even when it is used to describe someone way into the depths of some drug or alcohol, it's the same, a careless use of mind and body.  It can't be denied that as a nation, as a people, we are excessively wasteful.  We live in a land with such extreme plenty that it's very difficult as humans not to partake to the fullest.

Many of us, especially the older population, or folks from a poor background, often carry a lot of guilt about the excess.  The hubby and I often comment that sometimes things just feel obscene. Even the poor in our country, with their televisions, cell phones, food stamps, food banks and a multitude of assistance resources, aren't in the "living in filth, disease and starvation" situation of other unfortunates in the world. If they are in abject poverty in America, there is a belief by many that they have mostly put their selves there. And we aren't speaking of those with chronic debilitating bad health or events in their lives that were completely out of their control or those with diminished mental abilities. There's not a single person that I know, who would not be willing to take half the dinner on their table and share it with another.  Americans are not selfish. We give very unselfishly, even though corruption and evil misuse of charity takes the gifts from the needy in many instances.

 So, in a society that seems to be swimming in the comfortable waters of abundance, what has brought us to be so thoughtless and wasteful of our gifts? Answer number one is that we are human. Humans have an incredible ability to quickly adapt to prosperity, to become spoiled. Our motivation for being wasteful is the belief that there will be more where that came from.  The garbage, the food thrown away, behind just one of our local restaurants is truly obscene. The spouse and I often share a meal because the portions are so huge. I have friends who buy a restaurant meal, take it home and divide it into two more meals for later. Why do restaurants serve excessive portions? Well, because we are spoiled, we demand bigger, better and more. Those that are trying to make a living selling food, cater to the wants of the public. 

There is no stronger motivation for any behavior than experiencing personally something. You very easily want more of that something or never want that to happen to you again and typically act accordingly.  I have known what it's like to go to bed hungry.  Of course, I was determined that me or mine would never be in that situation.  Fortunately, as that child, I had family or others that cared that would've never let me truly starve. There was a time, when only family, good neighbors or the church would be there if you were down on your luck or an unexpected crisis arose. You tried to be as self sufficient and prepared as possible for a stroke of bad luck. You worked because if you didn't, there was NO money to live on, you went to college to be able to work at a better job, you put your extra change in a penny bank and any few dollars you could spare in a savings account. You took care of what you had acquired, it was not something to just throw away or neglect. You wanted your family to have enough but an excess just didn't feel right.

We waste because of a false security that there will be more.  Food will always be on the loaded store shelves, gas at the corner station for our multiple cars, water and electricity at the touch of a switch or handle.  If we get down on our luck, one of the numerous government programs or assistance agencies will be right there to take care of us.  Why be a conservative? It's there for us, isn't it?  We have children who are so completely devoid of empathy for their fellow humans,  they think if someone offends them, if things don't go as they want, if people don't give them all that they deserve, then just like the game or television show, they will shoot them. As if they have no concept of ceasing to exist, no more life. Precious lives wasted.

While very few of us can claim these days to not have waste in our lives, some have come to believe that a people who so carelessly use their resources with no personal accountability and responsibility will surely find them selves with no resources.  The people who prepare for a possible disaster, in ways both small and large, do so because they believe that very likely there will be a day when only their own self sufficiency will allow them to survive. They are not wasting any opportunity to prepare for an uncertain future.  What others do, think or believe should have nothing to do with what your heart and mind tells you is right. I believe character is not about being perfect, it is about always striving to be better.  Ask yourself, what did I waste today?  Is there even a small thing that I could have saved or left for someone else?