Nothing Gold

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. -Robert Frost

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Location: Arlington, Virginia, United States

I am a white American middle class suburban housewife trying desperately to tell herself that that is not who she is. One time I was a glowing young ruffian. Oh my God it was a million years ago.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

A Pledge

In an effort not to be so wasteful of resources, I've decided not to buy new clothes for myself anymore. I will only buy used. There are plenty of good used clothes available, so there's not a good reason why I should keep buying new stuff. Of course, not being as cool as I'd like to be, I'm making quite a few exceptions. These include:
undergarments and socks
bridesmaids dresses
stuff bought while mystery shopping
things that I have a need for (like warm gloves etc) that I've made an effort to find used but been unsuccessful.

Maybe I'll save enough money that when I do need to buy something that's new, I'll be able to afford to buy it from a more environmentally responsible company.

On another note, I need to share a conversation I overheard among the other preschool moms because I'm not a good enough person to keep my indignation to myself.
One of the moms recently traded in her Suburban for an Explorer and was sad to have to switch to such a small car. The other mom, who has one child and drives a huge Lincoln Navigator said, "They just don't make a car big enough for when you have kids. Once you get the kid and the dog and the groceries in it, that thing is full."
This is a mom that I like, and her son is Levi's friend, and I feel bad, but c'mon! Seriously? She has the third-stupidest huge wasteful car made, how much groceries does she buy at a time? And why does she take the dog to the grocery store?
I guess it's a cultural difference between here and where I wish I lived. I should try not to be judgemental of other cultures.

1 Comments:

Blogger [REDACTED] said...

I think your goal of being non-judgemental is exactly wrong. It's perfectly reasonable to be judgemental of a culture that is destroying us all.

I don't think you would hold yourself to the same standard of the culture you were criticizing was one that openly endorsed traditional slavery. But what you won't criticize is a culture that is as destructive, and perhaps worse, than a slave-owning culture. This culture of excess is damning the future of everyone and everything. It should (and will, I'm afraid) be judged harshly by reality. You should be on reality's side.

I'm just saying.

Also, next time you should say something to her.

5:00 PM  

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