March 12. 2015
I had an existential crisis solved by plastic today.
Remember all the plastic containers I hauled out of my kitchen? It balanced my kitchen. The right side is now even-Steven with the left where before, it listed and dipped precipitously from the weight of all that stupid plastic.
Well, yesterday I went to get lunch take-out at this great hamburger place with a nice bar and they packed it up for me in one of those giant plastic containers – the kind that threaten the planet because they are never going to degrade. When I was done with my burger – it was epic, by the way – I realized I had to let go of the container or clean it and put it in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet at work. I’m just not all that good at throwing things into the trash that either serve some reasonable use or threaten the future of the planet, so I cleaned it and into the drawer it went.
But here’s the thing. When I brought in my salad from home today to have lunch at my desk, I used the giant plastic container and my salad just fit – it was perfect. I could have decluttered and let the thing go yesterday, but today it served a purpose.
And so this is my existential crisis: how do I know what I throw away today wouldn’t have become useful tomorrow? I guess I’m going to have to wing it and stop being afraid. I tell everyone else to shun fear and here I am, fearful I could need a plastic container tomorrow.
I hold a slim hope that I can resolve this without hanging onto plastic containers.