Hotel Huntington, 2012
There are days like today when I'll walk along the streets of my neighborhood and see items such as a perfectly intact rattan basket in a trash bin and I'll think why not Goodwill? And I'll see a piece of luggage in a recycle bin and gasp seriously! Then I will think of the clinking of bottles I hear moving down the trash chute in my building, the bottles that could easily be deposited into the recycle bin right here beside our building. This will lead me to the junk mail dropped into the waste bin in our building entryway. Come on people! And I'll start to wonder about this place I call home. I'll forget all I love about it.
Then I'll get to this corner and I'll remember.
Beautiful. I have moments like this too. They make me feel misanthropic and then guilty because I sound imperious in my own head, though I'm certain I'm right in my indignation.
ReplyDeleteHaving places to go to restore something warmer, something more hopeful, is important.
first off, i love your fabulous blog "chez danisse" !
ReplyDeleteyes, i know it is depressing the non recycling that goes on out there. i take my bottles to a crash machine and get usually a dollar or so in redemption.
the drop-off at goodwill is so very easy, buying an armani suit at the local consignment store comes out to about $50 alterations included. well, almost.
living well and recycling - is the best revenge!
m
I'm with you. I feel hopeless and get prickly when people don't care. We live in one of the nations most "enlightened" areas and the indifference and laziness still surprises me. Come on people.
ReplyDeleteIt's exhausting. Sometimes I tell myself to only worry about myself and sometimes I get too didactic. It's hard to find a balance and not get frustrated!
ReplyDeleteI think the world creates too much trash to begin with. Don't get me started on disposable plastic bags and water bottles... then we get the great pacific garbage patch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch) and Sandy...and...
ReplyDeletePerfectly put.
ReplyDeletegood, good, Denise. balance. it's easy to get sucked into that negative pull, even in places that you love. you do your best and acknowledge the beauty.
ReplyDeleteLook at that sky! I do love your posts Denise. So inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI looked at the photo and immediately thought, Oh God, too many people, which kinda seemed to be the theme swirling around your words. But then I looked up at that sky with its blue and its clouds -- a big enough slice of sky to balance out all those people, and I had a second thought that maybe it's just fine.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo.... the skies have been epic lately, haven't they?
ReplyDeleteI love your posts Denise. Such beautiful, complete snapshot snippets of time from your unique perspective. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteSo so true! I think that the cost of what we purchase should account for the cost of littering and disposal. If it was more expensive people would buy less and also find ways to reuse their stuff!
ReplyDeleteI happened to be home last week on recycling day and noticed a middle-aged woman going through our recycle bin, picking out all the bottles. People freak out around our neighborhood at such things - I told her she was welcome to the bottles as long as she did not leave the other stuff laying around...the whole thing made me sad. It was 7:00 in the morning and I could smell alcohol on her breath; a lost soul! It made me cry for humanity at that moment and then I realized I could not save the world and in any case, life is a precious thing.
ReplyDeleteI call it "falling off the cliff" when my mind starts such thought chains. I have to stop myself or I will end up on the cliff saying "what's it all about anyway"...which leads my mind chain to think "what's it all about Alfie", then the song starts in my head and I see a beautifully young Michael Canne in the movie and I step back from the cliff. That is what it is all about.
ReplyDeleteI love these glimpses into your thought processes.
ReplyDeleteYes. I have an internal monologue at the playground and the grocery store, too.
ReplyDeleteAh...so it strikes you to that in a country where so many have so much there is so much waste...why? A day in the shoes of one who does not have so much could serve many well, and perhaps encourage a less disposable attitude to 'stuff'. Wishful thinking....
ReplyDeleteI confess that what really gets my back up is the whole disposable coffee cup thing...just how many Starbucks cups are there strewn in landfills around the world, and don't even mention those jolly plastic cup lids!?!? On less charitable days I shoot evil eyes at those carrying such cups :) I know not very zen, or productive....
great post using real-world examples. Keep it up!
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