I see the “take it to the curb” thing a lot, but I have only recently lived where that could be done. Flagstaff does uncontained pickup once a month, but with quite a few conditions. Electronics are hazardous waste (lead in solder, and more) so can’t be discarded that way. No large appliances, no liquids, no chemicals. Televisions can be picked up by appointment (a month in advance) only. No building materials at all – lumber, pavers, insulation, and such.
I think the big snag is low-level memories. The art projects from our children in school so many decades ago, things we thought we might need any day now, things we just wanted to have and are not sure of now, things somebody somewhere would surely prize… but they aren’t here. Maybe just things we paid quite a bit of money for and never got much return on our purchase.
We know little to none of that will be kept by our children when we go, but we can’t let go for one reason or another. Strangers would have no problem letting them go.
When we are facing a few tons of discards we remember from old times, money is not much of an object. It is far easier for a stranger to toss a box of stuff from 40 years ago than for us to do it.
That is tremendous. So many lives touched by humanity, in settings that do not really encourage it. For a time I hated school, for a time I loved it. It is all in how the teachers see it, I think. What too many people remember is the “Another Brick in the Wall” type of schooling but there are wondrous varieties as well. Many of us had bad to horrific childhoods and all of us learned everything in and out of school. Come to think of it, the one class that we are missing from the school curricula (vastly more important than knowing the plural form of most words ending in “um”) is how to make sense of it all. No need to take a partisan approach; what matters most is not even a formal part of schools as most of us know them. We are all destined to an indefinite term in a harsh world; we all have people around us who come and go. I’m reminded of the line from one of my least favorite Dickens stories, Great Expectations: “Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man’s a blacksmith, and one’s a whitesmith, and one’s a goldsmith, and one’s a coppersmith. Diwisions among such must come and must be met as they come.”
My major role model growing up was my original 7th grade teacher, Richard Chambers. He was a real teacher, not just a “here’s what you need to do” character. I particularly remember him from November 22, 1963 when he announced to the class that President Kennedy had been assassinated. He fielded questions until there were no more. One was, “Will we have a holiday?” He explained there may be early dismissal but he didn’t expect it. Then he respectfully explained about the meaning of holidays and other special days.
As Christmas approached he announced there would be a gift exchange so we should bring a wrapped gift to put under the tree. I didn’t have one, so when my name was called to pick a gift I began crying as I explained I didn’t have a gift for the tree. He said he had anticipated that and gave me a gift of his own: it was a paperback of Jack London’s “Call of the Wild.” It could not have been more perfect. It was only years later I realized he would have met my mother in a conference and figured he should get something for me, that might still be appropriate for any of the other students. From my book reports he knew I favored technical books too much, but I liked stories of adventure as well. What an amazing teacher.
I see the “take it to the curb” thing a lot, but I have only recently lived where that could be done. Flagstaff does uncontained pickup once a month, but with quite a few conditions. Electronics are hazardous waste (lead in solder, and more) so can’t be discarded that way. No large appliances, no liquids, no chemicals. Televisions can be picked up by appointment (a month in advance) only. No building materials at all – lumber, pavers, insulation, and such.