After an unexpectedly extended Memorial Day visit to my grandparents' house, I returned to a suspicious looking pot of vegetarian chili in my fridge. Crafted with much love and care, it tasted (except for some burnt bits) just right.... last week. I do not usually allow such food waste and felt great remorse as I poured the chili into my compost corner. Soft, rich, black soil from two summers of composting and turning generously folded over the decaying slop.... not a total waste, I hope.
I just finished taking vows of perpetual poverty and obedience (and very likely chastity) as I signed my medical school loans. (Who would want a partner with that much debt??) One fleeting panicked thought was, "I should not have wasted so much time before medical school. I should have started making money and paying off medical school debts by now." Following this logic, every year making less than a certain defined income goal is simply wasted time and one does not begin "really living" until one is reeling in cold hard cash.
BUT another way of looking at it, after calculating a modest expected lifetime income, my impending debts, and what I will need in my old age, is that I will earn an excess of what I truly need. What will that represent? Purchasing of stuff that, like my nearly perfect chili, will wind up in the trash? Producing profligate progeny through excessive spending? Are not these the ultimate forms of material waste? Perhaps it could be used for thoughtful, sustainable charitable work? That would require a richer character than pocketbook.
I propose, therefore, a redefinition of time wastage. Wasted time is that which is not spent growing into a more deeply connected, compassionate, and ethical being and helping others to do so. Anything else, especially material expenditure, easily becomes waste... most likely non- biodegradable to boot.
I just finished taking vows of perpetual poverty and obedience (and very likely chastity) as I signed my medical school loans. (Who would want a partner with that much debt??) One fleeting panicked thought was, "I should not have wasted so much time before medical school. I should have started making money and paying off medical school debts by now." Following this logic, every year making less than a certain defined income goal is simply wasted time and one does not begin "really living" until one is reeling in cold hard cash.
BUT another way of looking at it, after calculating a modest expected lifetime income, my impending debts, and what I will need in my old age, is that I will earn an excess of what I truly need. What will that represent? Purchasing of stuff that, like my nearly perfect chili, will wind up in the trash? Producing profligate progeny through excessive spending? Are not these the ultimate forms of material waste? Perhaps it could be used for thoughtful, sustainable charitable work? That would require a richer character than pocketbook.
I propose, therefore, a redefinition of time wastage. Wasted time is that which is not spent growing into a more deeply connected, compassionate, and ethical being and helping others to do so. Anything else, especially material expenditure, easily becomes waste... most likely non- biodegradable to boot.
