Tossed and Found

When I was about 6 years old, in a grassy field behind our apartment in San Francisco, I found a yellow Formica table top. The tubular chrome legs which had once held it aloft were missing, but it was otherwise in excellent condition. I was very excited and ran home to tell my parents. Dad constructed some short but sturdy legs (unfortunately from some rather splintery redwood boards), and we had a new expansive coffee table. Over the years, I ate a great many meals in front of the television at that table, and though I spent a good deal of time plucking splinters from my knees, I always beamed with pride over the utility and economy of that very functional piece of furniture.

Ever since then, I have taken immense satisfaction from rescuing objects from abandon and giving them new life and purpose. I take more pleasure from salvage operations than from the most considered and extravagant purchases. Nowhere has my penchant for dumpster diving been more fulfilled as in the Northern suburbs of Sydney. I know I have already written on this subject, but my passionate feelings warrant further discourse. Perhaps it is a false pride to have so much regard for other people’s garbage, but I can no longer contain my happiness when I survey the reassigned contents of our apartment.

Among our reclaimed treasures:

Large frying pan
Ornate serving platter
Salad bowl set
Set of four stem glasses
Blender (and a good one, too)
Trash can
Mixing bowls
Serving tray
Candelabra
Glass top kitchen table
3 matching kitchen chairs
Patio rocking chair
Patio table
Bowie knife with built in compass and water tight match case, also a fishing line and hook)
Coffee table
Side table
Floor lamp
Table lamp
Computer desk
Shelves
File cabinet
Bed side tables
Elegant glass vase (now a bathroom garbage can)
DVD of episodes 6-10, Season 2 of M*A*S*H
Weber BBQ grill (came with a bag of charcoal, too)

U.S. Mail Box Push broom
Fishing rod and reel
Vacuum cleaner
Stereo radio (with cassette)
Power cord for our computer
Laundry drying rack
Laundry Basket
Ironing board
Silver Tennis bracelet
Silver necklace with green gem stone pendant

Several pieces of original framed art work
A boat hook (I’m not sure why we needed this, but we did)

Every one of these items has been given a new lease on life and are utilized almost daily with affection and bewilderment, usually in the form of “I can’t believe someone just threw away this perfectly good vacuum cleaner!!” or “Wow. This boathook is just the thing for beating on the ceiling.”

Although there is no shortage of roadside furniture and appliances, I felt justified in buying these items second hand. Thus, we purchased a couch and matching chair, a refrigerator, and a washing machine for a fraction of their cost new, and while there is something decidedly weird about Australian appliances, I nonetheless derive the same thrifty pleasure from their used condition. The money saved on the above items easily justified the purchase of a high quality bed and a beautiful flat screen TV.

Back home, we have a wonderful house, filled with excellent furniture and top grade appliances and electronics, yet here we sit on rusty patio chairs, listening to Triple J on tinny speakers, drinking wine from inappropriately shaped glasses and we absolutely ooze satisfaction. Less and less do we find ourselves pining away for our neglected possessions. We ponder the reasons frequently and have determined that (as with all matters of happiness) it results from the disparity between expectations and reality. One expects a lot from a $5000 couch or a $400 vacuum cleaner and any deficiency is magnified by its comparison to the ideal, whereas a $400 couch or a free vacuum cleaner is praised effusively for simply fulfilling its intended station.

Modern society, and especially the corporate world, speaks frequently of high expectations and demanding excellence, but it seems to me that these notions inevitably foster dissatisfaction and anxiety. But is it possible to purposely lower or even eliminate one’s expectations? Can we intentionally disregard our notion of ideal outcomes in favor of accepting the simple pleasure of what is in front of us? Is it too early in the morning for me to be waxing so philosophical? Would Paris Hilton understand a word of this essay?