On Repurposing of Items...
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the repurposing of items that no longer have any meaning or sentimental value to me. Examples would be gifts that I’ve received and only held onto out of an emotional connection to the gift giver. If that emotional connection were to sever, and the item has never been practical… why not do something about that?
Heck, sometimes the items are even a little bit offensive.
So… rather than holding on to this offensive trash… why not do something about it?
I’m sure that for every item in my home that I have no use for, I also have a friend who would really appreciate it. So why not repurpose the item into a true sentimental gift of love and affection for said friend? Then the item in question is no longer an object of seething hatred towards someone who has done me grave personal harm… it’s been transformed into an object of compassion, understanding and truly moving emotional connections.
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In a similar sense - I’ve also been repurposing bananas!
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An LJ friend if mine recently made this post about the evil of bananas, which also reminded me of this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Pear Bread that was made out of a banana boycott issue.
Apparently bananas are one of the highest carbon footprint fruits because they have to be flown everywhere - and quickly - to maintain their freshness to be sold to the American Consumer.
And yet… the Beloved One LOVES banana bread!
Queue another friend who has noted my banana bread entries and my baking adventures and thought to himself… “Hey, I work at a place that seems to throw out a lot of bananas! I bet I could talk them into giving me some to give to ImariiStarre so she has free bananas for banana bread!”
Sure enough… twice now I’ve been delivered a giant bag of brown bananas IDEAL for making banana bread, by a rather environmentally conscious fellow who probably drove over in his hybrid car to give them to me. (oh so deeply appreciated too!)
It got me thinking. I can’t do anything about the bad things that have already happened to bring those bananas here. If I let them go to the city garbage burner they’re just doing even more harm to the environment.
So, what’s the harm in repurposing them as offerings of pure affection and devotion to the Beloved One?
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Same goes for the masses of cardboard packaging that goes into the food industry, like the boxes that pasta comes in. My gerbils love to shred it for bedding material. So… I can either send those to the garbage burner too, and spend money I don’t have on honest to goodness pet chews… or I can repurpose the cardboard from food containers, tissue boxes, toilet paper rolls… into cage boredom alleviating bedding material for the Kids.
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So… think about it… is there anything you have that you’d normally throw away?
Is there something better you could be doing with it?
Heck, sometimes the items are even a little bit offensive.
So… rather than holding on to this offensive trash… why not do something about it?
I’m sure that for every item in my home that I have no use for, I also have a friend who would really appreciate it. So why not repurpose the item into a true sentimental gift of love and affection for said friend? Then the item in question is no longer an object of seething hatred towards someone who has done me grave personal harm… it’s been transformed into an object of compassion, understanding and truly moving emotional connections.
--
In a similar sense - I’ve also been repurposing bananas!
--
An LJ friend if mine recently made this post about the evil of bananas, which also reminded me of this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Pear Bread that was made out of a banana boycott issue.
Apparently bananas are one of the highest carbon footprint fruits because they have to be flown everywhere - and quickly - to maintain their freshness to be sold to the American Consumer.
And yet… the Beloved One LOVES banana bread!
Queue another friend who has noted my banana bread entries and my baking adventures and thought to himself… “Hey, I work at a place that seems to throw out a lot of bananas! I bet I could talk them into giving me some to give to ImariiStarre so she has free bananas for banana bread!”
Sure enough… twice now I’ve been delivered a giant bag of brown bananas IDEAL for making banana bread, by a rather environmentally conscious fellow who probably drove over in his hybrid car to give them to me. (oh so deeply appreciated too!)
It got me thinking. I can’t do anything about the bad things that have already happened to bring those bananas here. If I let them go to the city garbage burner they’re just doing even more harm to the environment.
So, what’s the harm in repurposing them as offerings of pure affection and devotion to the Beloved One?
--
Same goes for the masses of cardboard packaging that goes into the food industry, like the boxes that pasta comes in. My gerbils love to shred it for bedding material. So… I can either send those to the garbage burner too, and spend money I don’t have on honest to goodness pet chews… or I can repurpose the cardboard from food containers, tissue boxes, toilet paper rolls… into cage boredom alleviating bedding material for the Kids.
--
So… think about it… is there anything you have that you’d normally throw away?
Is there something better you could be doing with it?