Broken Things

There is a broken heater by the back door that hubby will take to the dump.  I was looking at it and thinking "what a waste".  Why don't we fix things anymore?  I asked him this question and he said that it would cost more to fix something like that than to buy a new one.  I know that's true.  But, why?  I'm glad that things are affordable.  But, it sure seems to me that we throw away a lot of things.  My computer monitor stopped working.  I will have to get rid of the broken one.  Even if I wanted to get it fixed, I wouldn't even know who to call for something like that.  And, if I were able to find someone, it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one.

I was trying to think of things that you would repair.  Cars. Major appliances?  Geez.  Are we the throw away society or what?  I've had 3 laptops and I still have the first two (that are broken).  I don't even know why I am keeping them.  If your camera breaks, will you try to get it fixed or buy a new one.  Mine is a very inexpensive one, so I'm sure I would have to replace it.  If your cellphone stops working, will you try to find someone to repair it or will you replace it?  My computer is running really slow lately.  That is one thing that still has repair shops.  I think I just need a tune up.  But the last time I took a computer to the shop, they told me it was dead.  Argh.

It wasn't always this way.  My Mother in Law keeps everything and will find a way to fix it if it breaks.  She still had a rotary phone until recently.  I don't think that you can even have one of those anymore, for compatibility reasons.

I seem  to remember there being more "repairmen" when I was a kid.  Do you remember the "lonely" repairman commercial for Maytag?

So many people are all about recycling and protecting the environment.  But, I don't hear a lot about the sheer amount of things that we get rid of.  Surely this is filling up some landfill somewhere.

What if we started fixing broken things again.

What if things were made to last.

What if.