WEAR IT OUT, USE IT UP, MAKE IT DO.

The slogan, or adage, which I believed originated in the Great Depression, and re-surfaced during World War II, actually went like this: "Wear It Out, Use It Up, Make It Do...Or Do Without." It would seem a good principle for any time of life, and especially these days. We have arrived at a place of diminishing resources, that is not going to go away. And yet, the cliche of 'the throw-away society' prevails as a truism, and evidence of a disregard for the facts that are on the table.

This brings me once again to Ethyl, an old woman I never knew, but whose house I had to clear upon her death in her 90s. The house was filled with boxes and boxes of things saved. Every room was filled with such boxes. Every closet or cabinet stuffed with stuff. Such behavior is considered compulsive hoarding. An eccentricity. And that, in a way, is true. But, Ethyl lived through the Great Depression and World War II. She had felt scarcity up close and personal. She had done without, as millions also did. In the depression, simply because the necessities just were not there, or too costly to purchase. In the war, because it was a time of sacrificing valuable resources to keep our armed forces alive and equipped. So, like many of her time, there was a certain post-traumatic-stress syndrome that settled in, not just in the returning soldiers, but in the citizenry as well. And one of the common symptoms was this clinging onto whatever one had. A tendency to wear it out, use it up, make it do.

In Ethyl's kitchen, I found large pickle jars filled with bars of hand soap worn down to slivers. There were other jars filled with soap shavings. That all looked quite familiar to me. I recalled my grandmother taking such slivers of soap and making them into flakes with the aid of a cheese or cabbage grater. This in turn went into jars of water, to become the laundry detergent. Of course, the soap itself had been home-made of animal fat, or bacon-drippings and lye. It was a core way of life. To wear it out, use it up, make it do.

Of course today, it would be ridiculous to save and re-use the countless things we buy and use, given their planned obsolescence. Given the ridiculous hard plastic packaging even the smallest object is contained in upon purchase. And, while I often transfer aluminum or tin cans to the shop where they are handy for holding miscellaneous nuts, bolts, and screws, or handy for mixing up small quantities of paint, there are only so many such cans one can make use of. Today, the adage of wearing it out, using it up, making do, has to have a larger context.

And that, of course, is where recycling as an industry comes into meaningful play. Recycling as an idea, has been around for awhile, but is still quite under-utilized. A huge quantity of recyclable materials still wind up in the ever-growing number of landfills around the country. Ironically, proposals for new landfills are typically met with outcries of protest by many who do not want to have a landfill anywhere near them. Hmmmmm.......where do you propose we put all this crap you threw away?

This brings me to the Toilet Principle. Nothing makes a home complete, like a fully functioning toilet. It is an almost alchemically magical object that literally accepts all our shit, and flushes it forever out of sight, out of mind, and out of the reach of our sensitive olfactory objections. In the old days we knew where it was all piling up. It was piling up out there in the backyard beneath that little shack we called the Out House. And on a day when the wind blew in your direction, you were quite aware of that fact. But, today, thanks to the modern toilet, it magically disappears FOREVER.

We now know, of course, that the toilet principle was an illusion of convenience. We now know, that all the waste and debris of our consumption is piling up somewhere, and at monumental rates. Mountains of wasted materials that could have been recycled, and mountains of toxic waste that are contaminating the very water and air we need to survive.

If you recycle, good. Recycle more. Promote recycling in your community, in your state, and across the nation. If you are not recycling, give it a try. It can be a pain in the ass when first beginning, but it is a routine that can be made more and more efficient with practice. It can become a way of living. In fact, it ultimately must. If we do not try to wear it out, make it do, use it up, and in big and innovative ways, then we are destined one day, TO DO WITHOUT.