Scavenging as a Virtue

I suspect scavenging will be an emerging thing in light of the world-wide economic slump.

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Scavenging as a Virtue Donna Schaper Posted November 22, 2008 | 06:50 AM (EST) Scavenging is a low cost form of personal entertainment. It’s not just consumerism on the cheap. I glean the garbage because it’s fun. I just can’t stand being useful all the time. Women, especially clergywomen, are garbed in utility. We should all the time always be helping someone. That gets more than a little tiring and squeezes the juice out of life. I squeeze the juice into life by my little feasts, frequent scavenges and big frugalities. Call scavenging an underground economy – except that we who scavenge do so in the light of day. Call it compulsive – although it can be done with a great spirit of relaxation. I did throw away, actually recycle, all those shoe boxes I couldn’t really use. Or just call it spiritual fun, an easy participation in death and resurrection. You don’t even have to wait for Easter to do it.