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Trash the disposable life

THE YELLOWDART

Have you tried the new disposable toilet scrubbers? Neither have I. I am one of many who saw the commercials and laughed. Before this compelling marketing campaign, I didn't know my toilet brush had to be clean enough to do my dishes, too. As a woman on the advertisement so keenly points out, toilet brushes are "germy." They're toilet brushes. Get over it.
It isn't just toilet brushes, though. Western society seems to be in a heated race with itself to come up with the next convenient, disposable product. Cameras, dishes, cleaning supplies, e-mail addresses, underwear and even computers can now be obtained in disposable format. The medical community's understandable concern with complete sterility has spread to the everyday household, playing on a paranoia that seems to come naturally. You don't have to worry about ever coming into contact with the mess if you can just throw it away.
The problem is not with individual products but with the attitudes that produce and proliferate them. The majority of disposable consumer products are produced for convenience rather than necessity. Laziness, squeamishness and even a sense of entitlement can all play into our decision to go disposable. No one could reasonably expect us to dust our furniture or mop our bathrooms unless the whole process is quick, easy and at least two feet removed from anything dirty. Usually more expensive than conventional products, these products promise the instant gratification we consumers demand and expect.
The same goes for "disposable" experiences. According to stories from several news sources, this summer the owner of Hoheneck Castle in former East Germany has opened it as a very different kind of resort. Instead of massages and fine dining, tourists “enjoy” 24 hours of communist-style incarceration in the former women's prison. For only $122, they can live history first hand by eating bad food and being deprived of sleep. The next day, they go on to taste the delights of Vienna or Paris.
Prisoners of communism endured unthinkable pain for years and decades, never knowing if they might be executed or freed the next day. Now, those who are rich and curious enough can buy a disposable experience, an imitation of suffering they know they will discard the next day. We'll pay a high price for a thrill that is thrilling only because it is temporary.
Much has been said recently about the decline of marriage, another increasingly temporary arrangement. Perhaps we should consider the possibility that the same attitude that demands a disposable toilet scrubber has brought the downfall of the lifetime covenant. If it gets messy, just throw it away. Even in lesser romantic relationships, many are just practicing for divorce by trying and discarding one relationship after another. Good friendships are tainted forever because "it just didn't work out," and we leave a trail of human litter as we move on with our disposable lives.
I'm not saying we should expect everything to last. Sometimes it's good to throw stuff away. By getting rid of junk, we can eliminate distractions and pare our lives down to the things which really matter. There is nothing wrong with trashing worthless or entangling things.
Paul recommends such a cleanup in Colossians 3:8-10: "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."
Notice what is thrown away and what is kept. The "old self with its practices" is trash, and it can only hurt us if we keep it around. But the new self endures. It doesn't stay clean by clicking the handy tab and inserting a replacement cartridge. It keeps being renewed in accordance with what its Creator looks like.
There is something wonderfully permanent about this new self that is renewed rather than replaced. It maintains a consistent relationship with its Renewer. It reminds us of our connection with truly eternal things. It can grow and develop, becoming more versatile and beautiful over time.
The new self has the capacity to shed the trash and endure hardship for the sake of its eternal goal: "... let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance .... Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1, 3).
Let's not make it harder for ourselves by becoming entangled in our own pile of trash. There is enough suffering in the world without having to buy a prison sentence. Our landfills are large enough without disposable toilet brushes. Maybe it's time to get on our knees and just scrub the toilet. And while we're down there, we could take our new selves in for a few repairs.

Contact The Yellow Dart at yelladart@yahoo.com.