Consciously Connecting the Dots

We are all given big messages in our life, but they're usually sent to us indirectly, sometimes quietly, in the small things such as the words of a song, a conversation over coffee, a random action or reaction, statements "twitted" on Facebook..... Small actions all accumulate into a bigger message, but only if you listen to those signs and start to play connect-the-dots with those suspended thoughts. The sum of those moments of time become bigger than the whole; gestalt equals epiphanies. I payed attention to the dots and connected them this weekend and realize that I am trying desperately hard to protect my son from this cruel world in a strange and creative and hopefully beneficial way.

I get jabbed a lot, most of the time in good fun, for my "eccentricities". I admit it. My behavior and actions may be considered bizarre and even disgusting to some. I'm a garbage collector and have been seen actually jumping up and down with like minded friends when a big truck load of stuff gets dropped off while we're scavenging. Sometimes my son and I come home literally reeking like bear shit and old garbage.  I'm a recycler and seem to perpetually have plastic baggies drying somewhere in my house (Why don't I see that at other peoples' houses?) and my son gets in to trouble at least once a year for bringing his food to school in glass containers. I'm a composter and like to keep a big container of worms in my basement munching away on my orange rinds and onion skins. I'm a biker and that in itself seems to be a novel thing in Red Lake (refer to my blog called "Incriminating Headphones" written in September). To me, these behaviours don't seem that strange but to others it seems to warrant pokes.

My friend's husband was scoffing at me the other day, basically saying that I'm a hypocrite, touting recycling and hug-a-tree and all of that save-the-earth stuff when I have two vehicles parked in my driveway. True. I do have two vehicles in my driveway. I also have a home that uses oil heating. I also have a lawn mower emits intoxicating amounts of pollution into the air. I am certainly not perfect nor have I claimed to be. The important part is being conscious of that, and using that awareness to make choices in other parts of my life so that there is some balance and a bit less excess. And it's really easy to point fingers at other people before a finger gets pointed back at you. It gives you that much more time to not think about your actions, or connect those dots.

The final picture came together when I was at the dump two weekends ago with my son and a friend, and we came across two garbage bags full of "gooooood stuff"....unbelieveable what was actually in those bags: a brand new woolen scarf that still had the plastic tag on it, children's stickers, alphabet beads, boy's pants in mint condition, boys shoes that look like they hadn't even been worn, children's books, a toy that was still in the package (which my son has had a great time playing with) stuffies (that Sandy now carries around in the yard with her). Every item in those bags could have been taken to our local second hand store, Junk n' Java, where they could have been re-sold. Or, the clothing and books could have been taken to the shelter, for others to use. Or, as my friend suggested, the warm clothes could have been taken to the school, so that if a child comes to school with inappropriate clothes on, they at least have something warm to go home in. Or the person that threw all of those perfectly good items away could have at least listed the items on "freecycle" on the internet or "buy and sell" on Facebook. There are so many alternatives to throwing stuff away, if you are a conscious person.

I have really benefitted from people's unconsciousness over the years. I have a violin that is still in it's case. It's fixable, and way cheaper than buying a new one. I have a good dolly for moving heavy things around my yard. I have a bench on my deck that just needed to be painted and given a cushion. I sleep on it all the time in the summer and almost had to arm wrestle another lady for it (at the dump). I have an old fashioned wooden school desk that has an ink well holder. It's an antique and Alexander loves to do art work there. I was able to clean up a dresser and give it to a friend as a gift. She loved it. I have a steamer trunk. I have copious amounts of funky garden ornaments. I have frames that were in their original packaging. I have books coming out of the ying yang. A teacher threw away really funky posters that look like they were made in the 50's. Alexander has a great one hanging up in his room that amplifies the activity on the streets of New York on a hot summer day. Right in front of that poster is a big metal shelf from the dump that we painted lime green. It holds Alexander's library of books. I have an old retro Eaton's bicycle strapped to my deck like a gem. I collected a whole bag of nails last week that are going to be put to use when I put my siding on my shed. My friend found a whole set of golf clubs once, in their original bag...perfectly good. I know somebody that built a whole shed at his cabin out of scrap wood from the dump. I have a neat old fashioned medicine cabinet from the dump. Such incredible finds....

And because of these finds, I have been able to apply my money in other areas. It has allowed me to travel and see the world, enjoy festivals, and build a house of my own. The stuff that gets thrown away literally becomes money in my pocket. Once I found $50 at the dump. People have also thrown away gift cards that are still good. And I used scrap wood from the dump (along with left overs from my house building) to build a fort for my son. And the whole outside of the fort is covered in old road signs that, yes, you got it, I got at the dump! (The inside of the fort is furnished with furniture from the dump, and wallpapered with milk cartons for insulation.)

So I guess I don't mind being jabbed, and poked and called a hypocrite. I don't really care because I'm not doing this for myself. I have figured out that really, I'm doing this for my baby boy, because I want him to not have to worry about crap like melting iceburgs, and all of the snow being gone from Mount Kilimanjaro, and smog index warnings. I want him to go outside and take in deep, fresh breaths of air and feel lucky to live in such a beautiful country. And then we can get on with our day and go have some fun scavenging at the dump. But you know, I am actually looking forward to the day when I go to the dump and don't find any good stuff at all. That will be a good day.

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In good consciousness, here are some links:
Red Lake Buy and Sell group on Facebook
"Awesome Dump Finds" group on Facebook
Red Lake's Freecycle Group