Invest in the Past

I'm a dyed in the wool anachronist and you all know it. This idea like many others is a product of my personal values and contains that bias. And I've said it a number of ways before.

Walking around Urban Ore (a scared space in my personal cartography) at various times over the last few months I've been a little worried. I shop there because they have things that aren't being made today (at least not at affordable prices). I love these things because they are sturdy, made of good wood or craftsmanship or somesuch other thing. What worries me is that increasingly I see the detritus of Ikea appearing around the store. More and more the scraps that people are leaving off are from the fly by night world of disposable furishing. Which turn Urban Ore into a trash heap instead of a gold mine.

The point of my concern is that the quality stuff makes up a smaller percentage of the whole. And one assumes will continue to decline. The idea is to rummage through these heaps and grab what you can of the quality stuff while you can. The idea is for these things to last. Set yourself on an item: a table, a desk, a bizarre metal wall hanging. And snatch it up. These itmes should be in your life for quite awhile, so it shouldn't matter that the world has gone the way of Ikea.

I know that I often sound paranoid and reactionary when writing about these things. But material objects matter because we're material animals. And they matter too much to create a system of purposeful discarding. I will however constent that when an object loses its function, it's out the door.

Anyways.