Pilgrimage Ponderings
Confession
I am a packrat. I save things that I should throw away, sometimes because I "might need them one day." But that's not my confession.
My confession is about the main reason I save things. My husband and I were talking about this the other day, and I stand convicted after that conversation. I was going through a desk drawer and pulled out a year-old pair of prescription glasses. He wanted to know why I saved them. I thought about it, and my answer was that I save them because it feels wasteful to throw them away. Maybe there's someone out there with just that prescription that could use my old glasses.
I vented about how much I detest contributing to the wastefulness of our disposable, mega-consumer society. He mentioned the bag of clothes in the garage that has been sitting there for several months. I insisted that we needed to take them to a second hand store. He probably would have taken them to the dump. I told him that I felt that it was wrong to throw away clothes that someone else might need.
And then he got me with this question: Is it more wrong to throw them away or to keep them in your house when someone needs them? Ouch.
I keep them because I feel guilty about throwing them away. And he's suggesting that if that is the case, I should also feel guilty about keeping them in my house. And my brain hadn't got that far yet.
So maybe I need to work on making it a priority to go by the Goodwill drop off. Or either let go of the guilt that isn't helping me or anyone else. What I am pondering right now is if I am the strange one for having these worries, or if my husband is for not having them!
What do you think?
Joseph: Your husband is a wise and humble man:) (01/04/07)