A new year, with plenty of food for thought

Ever wonder why sun lightens your hair but darkens your skin; why women can’t apply mascara with their mouth closed; why sheep don’t shrink when it rains?

These are just a few oddities your mind can dwell on, but I like the definition of the “Original Recycle Queen,” which is: one who washes aluminum foil she’s cooked in and then reuses it.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? If you grew up during hard times it probably does, and maybe you even did it yourself. After all, we aren’t necessarily born rich. Affluence is something we have to achieve.

Someone conveyed to me she never saw her dad happier than when getting old shoes fixed instead of buying new ones, and how at home her mom and dad were always fixing things that were broken, instead of buying a new one to replace it. During those days, it was a way of life, so just once she wanted to be wasteful and throw something broken away, knowing there’d always be more.

But then, one cold night, her mom died in the warmth of a hospital with doctors and nurses by her side, and in that moment of pain and loss she realized that sometimes there isn’t any “more”; there’s no new replacement, and the things we have that we love best, we need to fix.

Remember the days of hanging clothes on the line to dry? When most ladies set Monday aside to do their wash and when traveling through country roads it was a common sight to see white linens, towels and baby diapers flapping in the breeze on a sunshiny day?

I don’t have a “smart phone” with all the bells and whistles. That also includes Facebook and other social media trivia. My old school flip phone does all that’s necessary for me: to make and receive phone calls. Besides, I barely have time to read my daily paper, Scripture and a good book for my “leisure” time during a busy day of cooking, housework, grocery shopping, etc.

However, some friends and family members who do have these extravagances shared with me this insight between a young cashier checking out a little old lady at the store. She criticized the older lady for not bringing cloth shopping bags, reminding her that plastic bags were not good for the environment. The old lady apologized and said, “We didn’t have this ‘green-thing’ back in my earlier days.”

The young cashier retorted, “Right, now that’s OUR problem today because your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”

Uh oh, she just opened her mouth and put her foot in it!

This set the little old lady off on a spiel to straighten her out.

“You’re right, we didn’t have the ‘green-thing’ in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles and soda bottles to the store. Bottles were washed, sterilized and refilled to use over and over again. It’s called ‘recycling.’

“Grocery stores used brown paper bags that we reused for numerous other things, such as making covers for school books, trash bags or storage.

“We washed cloth baby diapers because we didn’t have disposables.

“Our children wore ‘hand-me-down’ clothes from their siblings, not always brand new clothes.

“But, you’re right, young lady, we didn’t do the ‘green-thing,’ just the ‘right-thing,’ and, oh by the way, we could also make correct change for a customer without having a cash register telling us how much!”

Another touching story passed along was one concerning a “Trouble Tree.” Seems a man hired a carpenter to do odds and ends around the house, and after a very trying day on the job with some of his electric tools not working, the handyman was driven home by the man that hired him and he invited him in to meet his family. Before entering his front door he paused by a small tree and gingerly touched the tips of its branches. Then, when entering his home, his face was all smiles as he hugged his children and kissed his wife.

Later, when walking back to his car, the man asked about seeing him touching the tree before entering his home.

“Oh, that’s my ‘trouble tree,’ “ he replied.

“I can’t help having problems on the job, but those troubles don’t belong in my home with my family, so I just hang them on the tree every night and ask God to take care of them. Funny thing is, when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging there the night before.”

We all need a “Trouble Tree.” Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”