Perhaps,
I’m wound a bit too tight for some people, but having things in
order seems to fit my personality. I am amazed at how we Americans
‘save’ things to use at some later date in our lives. For
example, the other day I got to looking around our house and
noticed that the silverware in our kitchen was old, beat up and
mismatched. Now, maybe this isn’t a big deal to a lot of people,
but to me, I like having spoons, forks and knives match when I
eat. It fits into the natural order of things.
Anyway,
here in this drawer I find at least 4 or 5 different kinds of
silverware. Now, I had been thinking about asking my wife to get
us some new stuff when the sales come out, and this seemed to be a
good time to bring it up. She listened to me and then told me that
we had a brand new complete set in the pantry that she had been
saving for use later on. Sure enough, there it was a wooden box
with a complete set of flatware for 8 just sitting on the shelf,
15 feet away from where I was standing. No need to go to the
store. No need to wait for a sale. No need to spend any money.
Just open the door and look. There it is. It seems curious to me
that we would have something new like this and not use it for our
enjoyment.
It
got me to thinking. I can remember giving things to my Mother as a
kid. I’d never see her use them or wear them and then when I’d
ask what happened to them ….I’d get the old…”I’m saving
them for later” story. My question is …was she really or were
they so bad that she didn’t want to drag these things out in
public? I remember buying some perfume called “Evening in
Paris” for many a birthday and Christmas present. As I recall it
came in a big blue bottle and might have been called toilet water
rather than perfume. I could buy it at a hardware store in our
neighborhood, if that tells you anything. At that time of my life
I thought perfume was supposed to come in big bottles. More for
your money sort of a thing. I can’t recall what that stuff
smelled like, but I seem to remember it was fairly loud, if you
know what I mean.
Obviously,
if the item in question is in poor taste or looks bad, then you
have a valid reason for not wanting to use it and keep it hidden
away. I remember an ashtray (remember those?) that some Aunt gave
us for a wedding present. Had to be the ugliest thing I’d ever
seen. Totally unbreakable. I dropped that thing more times than
you can imagine. I finally gave up and threw it away. That was
something that needed to be ‘saved’. If you were in the
service you had what they called an “inspection” kit. This was
stuff you kept in tiptop shape for inspections only. You never
used it, it was only for display. Your real stuff was hidden away
somewhere, out of sight. To this day, I recall one Inspection
Officer who wanted to see the real things, not just the ones we
used for inspection. He wanted to see what the toothbrushes we
used to brush our teeth with looked like, not something that
looked nice. He made a lot of sense to me at the time.
But,
really what’s our motivation for saving things? I mean when will
we be good enough to use the ‘good’ china or wear that tie or
scarf someone gave us? What are we waiting for? I mean if
they’re waiting to break out the good stuff for the reception
after your funeral, then that’s too late in my opinion. I can
hear it now…”Old Peary was a great guy, say would you look at
these forks, aren’t they wonderful?” Do as I do, go get
something out of the closet that you’ve been saving and put it
to use. Time is running….you might not get the chance tomorrow.
Or worse yet, the styles will change and you’ll never get
another opportunity. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
