A NEW DRYER IN A THROW-AWAY SOCIETY
Hello, everyone. Dana Corbit here. Okay, I admit it. Today when my dryer died for the fifth time in three years, I decided that it was time for it to go to the landfill. Hmm. That's not really how it happened. When I texted my husband this morning, calling for repairs before my wet laundry could take on the aroma of Parmesan cheese, he called back with the suggestion I'd given up on making. "Why don't you look for a new one?" he said.
Now you have to understand the significance of my sweetheart's request. He has managed to revive our lovely appliance through EACH of its near-death experiences, even locating outdated parts through the Internet to keep the door from opening during the cycle and sending clothes flying like a Salad Shooter.
Let's just say, I was humming the "Hallelujah Chorus" while searching on-line for a replacement. It didn't take long. With so much information at my fingertips, I compared products and prices, read specifications and customer reviews, located a source for free shipping and free haul away and did the most important research step - I called Mom - before placing the order. Only after receiving confirmation that the shiny new appliance would arrive tomorrow, with its much bandaged counterpart being taken away, did my guilt set in. I am sending another hunk of steel to the landfill. I might speak the pledge of "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse," but my husband is better at sticking to those words than I am, even if he's doing it for another unpleasant word: "Budget."
I say all of this to explain why I have spent much of the afternoon flipping through the Scriptures and "The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible," looking for references to waste and recycling. I didn't have a lot of success other than to learn from Mark 2:22 that one shouldn't put new wine in old skins or they will burst. Oh, and that the word "waste" in the early 1600s of the King James Version was what happened to the land of those who weren't following God's will. My search was a bust. Still, I have to believe that if Jesus were walking the earth today, He would recycle. I believe that God entrusted us with this beautiful planet, and we should treat it as precious. In my favorite passage, Matthew 6, Jesus tells of the lilies, the birds and the grass of the field, and how God cares for them. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" - Matthew 6:28b-29.
Will I send back my brand-new shiny dryer? Sadly, no. My clothes are fermenting as I write. But this exercise has given me cause for thought. It doesn't hurt to try to make things last, choosing repairs over refuse, at least for a while. I guess I'll test my resolve when the washer breathes its last, and I have the chance to make it a matching set.
9 Comments:
At February 14, 2012 6:59 PM,
Lenora said…
Dana, I feel your guilt. I have always tried to cherish the earth by recycling. We had to buy a new washer and dryer for our retirement condo. Wow, have they changed. Front-losing and less water and heat. Nice, but I hope we can find good homes for our old ones. They still work !!
At February 14, 2012 7:00 PM,
Lenora said…
That is front- loading. Auto-correct strikes again!!
At February 14, 2012 7:23 PM,
Dana Corbit said…
Lenora, I hope your new set lasts as long as the first and that pair finds a home.
At February 15, 2012 4:53 AM,
Wendy Sparkes said…
A very thoughtful post Dana, thank you. We recycle where we can. Our county actually has a large range of things you can recycle: glass, paper/cardboard, plastic, fabric, metal, food waste, garden waste. Clothes I don't wear any more but still in good condition we send abroad, other things we don't want we send to a charity shop. Some things though DO have to go in the landfill, & I don't like it either, but when there's no where else for it to go, it can't be helped!
I too believe that God entrusted us with this beautiful planet to take care of, & that we should treat it as precious. I remember when on a Christian Youth Camp as a teenager a question was put in the "Question Box" about where litter was mentioned in the Bible. A leader's reply to it was the story of the 5,000 where Jesus had the disciples collect up what was left into 12 baskets. So nothing was left to go to waste. - I believe then that those 12 baskets were given to the 12 disciples to satisfy their hunger after being busy distributing the food to others.
Hope you get on well with your new dryer!
At February 15, 2012 11:38 AM,
Jackie S. said…
Good luck with the dryer! Fun post....mine is aging, too.
jackie.smith[at]dishmail[dot]net
At February 15, 2012 11:55 AM,
Dana Corbit said…
Thanks, Wendy. I'll have look up the story of the loaves and the fishes. I remember them collecting what was left over, but I'll take a closer look.
Thanks, Jackie. I'm waiting for my new toy now. I'm headed down to measure the entry. Since I bought a larger capacity dryer for the tons of laundry my sweaty, teen-athlete daughters create, I hope it will fit through the door.
At February 21, 2012 10:43 AM,
beemama said…
I love the Salad Shooter line - I had a dryer that did that trick!
Knowing what makes us good stewards of our beautiful earth and where it just becomes over-the-top is sometimes hard to know. I think God expects us to be very careful about all the things that He has given for our use. After all it's not really ours it's His.
Shirley
beekeeper5(at)bellsouth(dot)net
At February 25, 2012 3:22 AM,
Ruth said…
Enjoy your new dryer!!!
ruth_mangabhai(at)yahoo(dot)com
At February 26, 2012 8:45 PM,
Kai said…
I will buy a washer but I won't buy a dryer. After all, I'm trying to go eco. I have the sun and wind to dry my clothes. OK, my clothes will be stiff (unless a fabric softner is used during the rinse cycle) but then again why are we don't using our natural resource more?
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