I stepped inside the garage and the first thing that caught my eye was a vintage bike, a Fuji Allegro. There it was, deep into the far right of the roofed structure, behind mountains of mechanical scrap, boxes and aged Rubbermaid containers. It was hanging upside down from steel hooks, rising above rows of almost disintegrating wooden shelves, packed with stored goods that are doomed to never see the sunlight again.
A classic, dated back from the 1980’s.
A sapphire from the past.
What people usually see? They just see the rusted frame, the practically obsolete tire technology, a weak gear system, and a outdated, underperforming design. I have to admit though, these individuals are not wrong about it. It’s the truth. So many years have gone by… trends running through our lives, changing our lifestyle ever more.
I’ll go ahead and make it clear. Our society has been consumerist since the establishment of civilization.
People strive to satisfy the needs of other for recompense, in most cases monetary. Goods are produced to satisfy those needs. In order to meet expectations, people who strive to satisfy others devise a specific manner in which the needs must be satisfied. Thus marketing was created. It is unknown to historians today how did business men and woman devised their manner of trade during the early ages of human kind – back then, marketing skills were buried along with both the dealer and the client. Therefore, the tactics of selling the product in order to satisfy the customer was forced to change. Even now, thousands of years later, that manner is forced to change by the trend-created inertia. At a daily basis, the people that have needs to be satisfied decide which is the most convenient manner. Or maybe the most desirable manner. Whichever reason, the people who strive to satisfy must provide an array of products in order to cover the great customer expectations. In the process, many products are discarded, discontinued, run out of stock, shadowed by newer versions of the same product, brought down by competitors. These exiled goods are sentenced to death at the nearest warehouse or storage room, at the most darkest corner of garages, attics and basements. Rather than being battered by constant use, these condemned goods stand unprotected against the elements. Yet some still stand, with scars worn by the passing of decades. And yet some still stand with potential and usability, challenging the trends and manners of customer satisfaction.
That’s where our individual decision makes a difference. I will not encourage the wannabe collector’s mentality of accumulating garbage and utterly useless goods. But if a product, no matter how old it is, has a potential to be renovated and used (and to be sure that someone is going to use it) our choices narrow down to this: are you going to satisfy you needs by your own means or are you going to be strongly influenced by the means of a trending market.
even simpler.
Figure out how to make your product – either by recycling old products or finding new uses to common articles.
Or
Let go and be made – carried by the most modern, most efficient, most environmentally friendly, most energy lasting, more durable…
have I explained myself enough?
There will always be a product that is the most this and the most that. It’s called marketing, brought into this world by primitive businessmen and women that strove to satisfy others for a monetary recompense or valuable exchange.
There will always be a product that catches a good looker’s eye, whispering silent chants of necessity… necessity of being used again.
The homeowner was waiting on my decision. My mind raced between the wallet in my pocket and my nervous processing headquarters called brain.
Everyone looked at me.
I did not hesitate.
superficial words journal 