Monday, November 19, 2012

Just Drop It


The New York Times has run again Jane Brody’s column of November 21, 2011, titled “It’s Time To Say Goodbye To All That Stuff.”  That’s what Dennis and have been working at for a couple of months now. We call it “ridding out,” a term borrowed from our German Baptist neighbors.

We have made great progress and have followed the principle of one area at a time, one of the techniques Ms Brody recommends. We’ve sorted things into piles: keep, donate, recycle and discard.

It’s the giving away part that has given me great pleasure. When I know someone who would enjoy a certain object, I give it to them. Almost always that person is delighted and grateful. Giving to strangers through the Social Services League thrift store is pleasurable, too, but there’s a third way of passing things on that’s a bit mischievous and lots of fun.

A couple of years ago my friend Cheryl showed up at my house with a beautiful black and white ceramic sculpture. “It’s a fine piece,” she said, “but it has bad connotations for me and I don’t want it in my house. Would you like to have it?”

“No way,” I answered. “If it’s in my house you won’t feel comfortable here.”

So we dreamed up an alternative: drop it. Not drop it as in “let it fall to the floor and shatter,” but drop as in “drop it off.” Drop it off in some public place and wait to see how long it takes for someone to adopt it.

That’s what she did. She left the ceramic piece on a bench in front of the library. She walked on and returned 15 minutes later. The sculpture was nowhere in sight. When Michael Soft heard about this technique, he immediately dropped off a few items from our basement ridding out. They, too, have quickly gone on to what we assume are good homes. Michael got quite a kick out of the whole process.

This is way more fun than listing something on E-Bay or having a garage sale. This is about empathy – imagining someone’s delight in finding something of value in an odd place. It’s about the joy of generosity, sort of like playing Secret Santa at Christmas. Everyone should try it at least once.

Photo of the Day



Copyright 2012 by Shirley Domer

2 comments:

Jayhawk Fan said...

Did a rabbit or deer eat the tops off the turnip?

I'm ridding today in order to give to DAV tomorrow! Ever since I found out that the little store they run helps support services to our Veterans, I decided I needed to do my "dropping off" there!

Thanks for inspiring me in this ridding process!

Shirley said...

I cut the tops off with scissors and gave them to the chickens, who were thrilled to get them.

Keep going on the ridding out. It is a freeing experience.