Maggie, from time to time, talks about her parents and how they went through the Depression as children. Her mother was not a hoarder but she was a re-user, particularly glass jars. It was an apt example of not wasting a thing and truly living the “waste not, want not” ideal of the time. A version of this phrase from 1576 was “Willful waste makes woeful want.” This saying is also traced back to a 1772 proverb, “waste not, want not. The less we waste, the less we lack in the future.” It was first noted in the US in 1932 in the comedy film, “Topper Takes a Trip.” Placards with this saying were frequently hung in kitchens as a reminder. The saying was widely used for many years but has waned in what is now being called the current throwaway society.
In the same vein, when Maggie was young, her father would tell her to eat her spinach and not waste food and explained that there were starving children in China. He was right! Now, we believe that China has taken over world production of products as they remember well what it was like to have very little.
As we search the grocery shelves this year, we notice that many things that we were accustomed to buying off the shelves are not there. Food items and paper products are on the top of the list. Even the wine industry is whining because they cannot find enough bottles for their wines. In the spirit of our elders and those who have lived through harder times, it seems that it may be time to stop whining. It may be time to be grateful that we still have multiple stores to shop in and that they are full of options and choices. We may have to bend a little and choose a different flavor, color, or brand. We may have to be a little more flexible and a little less spoiled and make some different choices. Along these lines, we have even tried bamboo toilet paper. It wasn’t bad and my father would have been proud of us!
Today, the moral of the story may be to be grateful for what we do have and for those whom we have in our lives and that a meal with family or friends always tastes better than one eaten alone.
In this holiday season, may you be surrounded by those you love and who love you. If so, we bet that you will have more than plenty.
I would rather have a full heart than a full belly – M. Shaw
