Word of the Day/Thought of the Day

Wasteful

–adjective

Given to or characterized by useless consumption or expenditure: wasteful methods; a wasteful way of life.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

I chose this word due to the fact that this has been and is increasingly becoming one of the biggest problems facing this country. Again, I know that this is no big revelation that we are wasteful and that there has probably been numerous articles written about it, but it has gotten to a point of absurdity, to the point were it is not only creating a problem for us pollution-wise, but also limiting and inhibiting us as a logical, self-sustaining society. We have become a society that just throws things away and gets a new one (I believe someone referred to this as the “throw-away” generation). We buy things that we do not need; manufacture things that have little life-expectancy and are not easy or able to fix. We are dupped by sales people into thinking that we need something we do not, or are not given the cheapesy way to fixing a problem. Also, somewhere along the line, manufactures realized that if they make an inferior product that the public can overlook than they can sell more when they need replaced. Or, the product is produced just to function long enough for sale and the ride home. Long-gone are the days when we buy something and if we maintain it properly it not only lasts our lifetime, but can be past down to generations. Also, we are so busy working to buy the next disposable item that we can not maintain things properly (this seems to be my case). It seems like another viscous circle that is not getting better. It has almost come to the point, if not already there, where it makes more economical sense to produce an inferior product. Consumers are as much, if not more, to blame for this. It seems to me that we are buying a lot of things just because they are cheap.

This is an extremely broad topic that can me spoken-to from numerous angles, but it was just something that was on my mind. This is something that humanity needs to reel-in before we bocome inhuman, or atleast more so. I believe that this wasteful state we are in is contrary to our essence and a detriment to our well-being.