There was a famous poster in World War II : Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. It is up there at the top of the page. People added, "or do without."

Jason is talking about Stuff today in Bumped Off. It piqued my interest.
The book Jason's writing about is based on this web site:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/full-list-of-stuff-white-people-like/

I hunted it down and have a rant, which follows. It's a rant about my life. Although my skin is pale, I'm not a classic WASP in any traditional sense of the word. Poor people of any color are not White, in the sense of this site. It's about attitudes toward consumption. How much trash and how much recycling does your home produce every week?

I countered with a web site of my own liking:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120907E.shtml#

What we buy is not who we are! Many of us have always lived simply as adults, because we don't need much: food, water, books, radio, a musical instrument, and people. We use the library.We eat poor people food; most of the world does. We eat foods from all over the planet, and it's all cheap. Occasionally I have oranges. Mangos, Papaya. It's good to indulge occasionally.

My parents taught us that human service was something one did with one's life. I don't push my life on others. I don't think I'm superior. Long before it became popular to say "Live simply that others may simply live", My mother was teaching that attitude to us at home.

My Father was born in 1899, served in World Wars I & II, lived through the depression, practiced Constitutional and Criminal Law for 38 years and died in 1965, when I was 15. My Mother was born in 1921, grew up in the depression, became an Historian, sold commercial and industrial real estate. She was a lifelong learner and teacher. She died in 1995, when I was 45. My parents took in foster kids to raise. I had plenty of siblings in addition to my two sisters.

We all grew up living relatively simply. That depression attitude toward stuff pervaded everything. Are you old enough that your parents hoarded toilet paper? Mine did. If there were fewer than ten rolls of toilet paper in the house, we were "out". Of course we wore hand me down clothes. passed down school books and other books from one child to another. We were rich in books.

I have volunteered more hours by four or five times than I have worked for money in my life. The longest job I ever held lasted four years. I've been a "Kelly Girl" type of temporary worker almost as long as I can remember. I didn't need a lot of stuff. For many years, I lived with somebody.

I shared housing at a "Girl's Club" when I first left home. You moved in, had a bedroom, shared facilities with other girls who had their own rooms. I lived in those for several years. Later on I almost always had room-mates. As the sixties wore on, lines blurred some, and co-sexual living became more acceptable. When I came out, I shared housing with my woman lovers. (Serially.) I've shared space with husbands, Wives. Many many cats and a few dogs. I've had gardens since childhood. My mom grew food and flowers for the table. We had fruit trees; Apples, plums, grape vines, mulberry, cherry. We actually put things up in mason jars. I never will again, but we did. We dried fruits and vegetables. Made Mincemeat and froze it.

I have always worked. I have done every job there is, from working a factory line to managing a hotel, including being a construction worker and running an outdoor Advertising Bench company.

I've been a consultant many times in reorganizing billing for small companies when a key worker leaves or dies. I have always told everyone, the day I started a job, that I don't work on my birthday. And I don't. My last few years of employment started out typesetting and became typography, editing, and eventually, publishing. All of it about 35 or 40 hours a week, leaving time for activism.

I have been a full time Gay Activist, and retired from that as I became more occupied with caring for friends with AIDS. By the time I was done, I was crippled. I had polio in childhood, and today I am completely disabled.

I feel guilty about owning televisions. I have 2, one in my bedroom for times when I am confined to bed for weeks on end, one in the living room for Saturday cartoons. Sometimes I am childish, other times I am childlike.

I worship God and don't sell it, I live it. I live alone by choice and have fostered a few children myself. I take my vitamins, do my physical therapy and live in chronic pain. I try not to complain. My worst characteristic is my loud mouth.

I live and let live. My biggest indulgence is speaking my mind. I say things people prefer not to hear. I comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. I believe I am put here to be an encourager.
I encourage people to live their lives in love and compassion. That's my true career.

Comments:

Most of them are still around, a couple of them died of AIDS, one of Leukemia, one of cancer of the colon which is now about 90% curable. A few have drifted out of my life. If anybody knows Gracie Morrison, tell her to email me here, please. thestephymore@greasy.com I lost her by being judgmental about her new husband. I have since come to realize that people make choices about their lives, and I don't have to approve of them, I just get to keep on loving them.

WOW, I'm glad I stopped by and took the time to read your blog Steph!! Great blog and I just what I needed to read this morning!!! No guilt feelings needed for owning 2 tv's my goodness!!! You have lived simply and now you are ahead of the game so to speak!! Others can learn from you.

I remember doing an interview years ago on NPR about my life as a single parent etc etc etc, and one comment I made went something like this, "do I buy toilet paper or milk this week?" I ended up with about a years supply after some local people heard the interview!!! They are equally important but those are the real life decisions one makes even back in the 1980's!!!

So now here it is 2008 and parents have to decide either to put gas in the car to get to work or buy groceries for the week for their families!! I sure hope we are learning to "make do" ASAP as this "depression" is going to get a lot worse for millions of families world wide!! Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for stopping by with the good wishes!!
Barb

Awesome, Stephy! Simply awesome!