A Mardi Gras 3000 Forum member ("Rune") introduced a "rant thread." This universal given for online forums, I came to learn a rant thread is a place to complain, to whine and to basically share with each other that life can suck for all of us at one time or another. We're never alone in temporary misery. Strangely, the rant thread is a lot of fun to read. I wish I were better at the ranting itself but, hey, we all have our limitations.
I do have something that has been bothering me. One of those things that I keep coming back to. Two years ago (oh, E.J., let it *go,* grrl!) I helped friends raise money, clothes and other every day items for a family we'd been told needed a little help. There was a baby monitor, shirts, pants, toys, books and two hundred dollars. The four care packages were huge and cost eighty dollars to ship. After many months (now two years), no card or call of thanks ever came.
Now, I'm one of those geeky chicks that actually listened in school and I know better than to expect a few care packages to soothe the sting of hard times. The emotional economics of poverty don't allow much room for positive expression. But I don't think apathy is the culprit this time.
I came to know through bizarre circumstances that the reason no card or call ever occurred is because the packages truly weren't appreciated. As a matter of fact, they were rifled through and then thrown out, the cash going completely unnoticed.
I drove from friend to friend gathering items for these care packages. I remember my publisher's kids donating toys they adored and my mechanic handing over an incredible flannel work coat. It was nice stuff, given with kindness. But it wasn't new. And because it wasn't new, it was seen as insulting.
What kind of world is that? Where is the intrinsic flaw in the human character that causes a family in need to throw out a board game because the shrink wrap is gone or a shirt with a button loose?
As a quintessential "starving artist" (which means I joyfully pinch my pennies and hustle my butt every month to pay my bills without getting a straight job) I have no problem buying shirt and jeans and coffee mugs, all thrice-used, for ten cents a piece at a thrift store. It allows me to support my coffee and flowers habit. Every time I set foot into St. Vinny's I'm benefiting from somebody else cleaning out their closet.
Sometimes I'm afraid in this throw away society that we've accidentally packed our common sense and our sense of humility off to the dump. Without ever even considering to recycle/reuse.
E.J.
