The Family-Centered Life

Simplicity - Knowing and Respecting Our Stuff

by Meg Lund

An important aspect of simplicity is one which has yet eluded me in way too many cases, and that is taking good care of that which I have. Respect for the gifts that God gave us is reflected in keeping things clean, orderly and in good repair. Since all things that we have are only ours “on loan” from God, we can look at it as if we have borrowed these things from a great king, who will one day want account of them.

In so many ways, our modern day culture destroys our ability and even desire to foster this virtue. The main reason, I believe, is because we are no longer in control of the things we have. We didn’t make them and could never make them with the resources we have at home, so we are unable to fix or maintain them. We have no idea of the effort that has gone into making them, so we lack appreciation for the “work of human hands.” We don’t pay the price that things are really worth, thereby exploiting people and the environment, and giving us a false sense that stuff is “cheap.” Because stuff is apparently cheap, we have way too much of everything, making it impossible for us to properly respect all that we have.

Knowing our Stuff

Before our modern Culture of Death, we, or someone in our neighborhood, used to make everything that we owned. We appreciated the labor that went into it, and that alone would give us a greater respect for the object. Take a handmade sweater for example - this would take countless hours to fashion, from the tending of the sheep, to the shearing, to the washing of the wool, to the carding, spinning and final knitting of the sweater. If a hole were to appear, we would quickly get some of that same yarn, and mend it before all of our long, hard work was unraveled. We would also see to it that it was never stained, or thrown in a heap, and we would use it until it was worn thin, at which time we would recycle it into something else (if nothing else, insulation for the attic, or even compost for the garden). We would be willing to pay a fair price for this sweater, since we would certainly appreciate the hours of hard labor that went into it.

Nowadays, no one understands or pays the true cost of the items being produced, used and thrown away. When things are made at some foreign sweatshop, the buyers do not see the injustice to the people who make them. When things are made in a factory with chemicals and pollution, no one is figuring the long term damage to the environment and the health of the workers. No one counts the cost of health hazards to users of the product or to the entire earth when the item is thrown away, and continues to leach plastic and chemical molecules into the ecosystem. The only full solution to this is to return to making the things that we have as local communities from local, natural materials in a natural process so that we can properly maintain and repair items and appreciate their true value, while at the same time naturally limiting the amount of stuff and being able to properly monitor that the true cost of everything is paid.

Respecting Our Stuff, Respecting Each Other

God commands us to respect each other’s stuff in two out of the 10 Commandments.. Thou shall not steal and Thou shall not covet they neighbor’s goods. To respect a person’s stuff is to respect a person. We feel invaded when our stuff has been stolen or damaged by another.

Modern day children teach us a lesson about how much we are harming them and all of mankind by teaching them to disrespect stuff. They are often destructive (like “Sid” in “Toy Story”) and seem greedy and selfish, despite having so much. When they smash their toys, they are hurting themselves, and when they do the same to others’ toys, they are hurting others. Kids innately understand that to disrespect another’s goods is to disrespect another. They are protecting their self esteem when they protect their stuff. This is why even a young child will get defensive and angry when another comes and snatches away something that they have, and they show their disapproval by snatching it back shouting, “It’s MINE!” As teenagers, these behaviors often manifest themselves as vandalism and theft, which are acts of violence and aggression. They are disrespect for life.

Too Much Stuff

Now, zoom forward to the 20th century from biblical times and see where we’ve come. Sometimes, we’re GLAD when a toy breaks, because it gives us an excuse to throw it away!!!! We’re so overwhelmed with stuff, that we can’t possibly respect it all, and we really just want it out of our face because our inner conscience is telling us that we must respect it, but our logical side is saying, “I can’t possibly give all of these things proper respect!” Perhaps this is why we have so much mental illness that revolves around stuff in our times… people hoard, collect garbage (this is actually a symptom of schizophrenia), and just can’t seem to get themselves out from under their stuff.

The Solution

The path to the solution to this problem would include, of course, greatly reducing the amount of stuff that we and our kids have, and then teaching everyone to take good care of the stuff that they do have, and to show respect for the stuff that others have. That includes making sure to ask before using, and taking great care not to damage it while in use, and, if it does get damaged, to make reparation for it in some way. But we can only go so far with this while living in Babylon…

The FULL solution will come when we all understand that the greatest goods that we have are those that are given by God to all of mankind, in the bounty of nature that is so little recognized and appreciated. This is our riches, because we are the children of an extremely wealthy Father, who can make things like snowflakes and bunnies and stars out of nothing. All He asks is that we be good stewards of His bounty, that we make sure not to ruin it for future generations and not to hoard it. If our self esteem is connected to our wealth, then we will feel incredibly rich and important when we recognize that all of this has been given to us by our Father who loves us, and humbled when we realize how poorly we’ve been taking care of it. But our merciful Father will show us how to be proper stewards once more, and as we get over our selfishness and greed, for both things and knowledge, we will find the loaves multiplied once again, or manna from heaven, and an abundance for all.

(Originally posted at home-n-stead.com - reprinted here with permission from the author.)

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