Things Worth Saving

Posted at 07:56 AM on Sunday, Apr. 26, 2009

The economic recession grows, and in hard times, it's easy to throw away things to make way for the new. We look forward because the recent past is painful.

In the face of change, we are tempted to simply cast away things old, believing progress can be achieved by discarding our yesterdays.

But I believe in things worth saving -- old cars, old appliances, old furniture, old clothes, old tools, old equipment.

We are entering a new economy of the old: We keep things longer because they have new value. In some cases, we can't afford the new and have no choice. In other situations, we now are forced to extend the usefulness of everyday things and expand their life expectancy.

This is good -- the act of renewing and recycling the old, overcoming a throw-away mentality and instead fixing things. I hope we redefine the old and find new uses as we keep things longer.

And I hope this also extends to old people -- perhaps there's new hope for those of us aging as we enter a different world today where many are choosing to keep things old. As I age this becomes more important! Old is the new new.

Things worth saving -- home cooking, old-fashioned family meals, unprocessed food. Food made by familial hands. Food appreciated by many because they now know the labor and love in every dish and every flavor.

We call it comfort food. Homemade, simple, made by family and friends. The old tradition of eating at home has new value, both saving money but also enhancing the age-old tradition of a family meal. We bank new social capital with each bite.

Things worth saving -- fruit gardens, vegetable gardens, backyard gardens, planter gardens, patio gardens, old gardeners.

Seeds sales nationwide are booming, people are back to planting their own gardens. The economics of growing your own food have impacted thousands of families, the recession is instant fertilizer for gardens. Even the new White House occupants have planted their own organic garden.

Gardens are the perfect shovel-ready recession project as a nation returns to its agrarian roots. A new Victory Garden is born in 2009.

Things worth saving: advocates for the hungry and homeless, help for families and children that are hurting, reviving the old tradition of taking care of neighbors.

As belt tightening occurs, often the first programs cut are those with an invisible and silent constituency: the poor and powerless. We need to support these programs and increase our personal commitment to help those in need.

In a recession with layoffs and cutbacks, individuals have the opportunity to give back. They still hold a powerful tool and resource: their time. While the outside work world has hardened, perhaps it's time to turn inward and gently give more of ourselves to our own communities.

Things worth saving -- an entrepreneurial spirit to solve problems; a resolve to make ourselves better; a will to succeed and not be dependent on government for support; a belief in creativity that feeds our passion.

It's during a downturn that some of the most resourceful ideas are born. Innovation often explodes in tough times because people see a need and have a drive to fill it.

Creativity expands, it can fill the void due to economic limitations and can help us break through constraints -- we free ourselves to think and inject life into a lifeless time.

After all, for many of us, what have we got to loose? Ironically, when times are good, we carry higher risk: While we may be able to afford taking chances, we have more too lose. When times are bad, some entrepreneurs view the risk of failure as low -- missteps may hurt, but those with passion will find a way as the true entrepreneurs empower themselves.

Things worth saving: acts of kindness.

Difficult times call for actions above and beyond, the selfless acts to help others and in the process, help ourselves. "Pay it forward" means to do good to others now and trust that in the future, the favor will be returned.

In a toxic world of recession and hard times, we have a calling and responsibility to do the right thing and believe that good acts will one day come full circle.

We live in an era of looking forward, but let's not simply throw away the old. The simple, everyday acts of keeping and renewing traditions, helping those in need, tapping into our creative spirit, all are worthy to keep around.

And one final thing worth saving: hope.