Disposable

I'm amazed at our new disposable world. Sure, there's a lot of small things. We have disposable cups and disposable plates and disposable lighters and disposable diapers and disposable razors. Lots of smaller stuff, but also bigger things. It just wasn't that long ago that we had to have our televisions repaired rather than simply replaced. There used to be more computer repair shops because they were too expensive to replace if it wasn't necessary. And it's moving forward. More and more stuff ends up disposable, it seems.

It would be interesting to consider what our culture considers valuable based on what they consider worth keeping. Fix it or toss it? That might be an indicator. Take friendships, for instance. We think they're valuable. Or not? Given the advent of smartphones and the Internet, one has to wonder. As "connected" as we claim they've made us, it seems odd to find a group of "friends" in a gathering who are completely ignoring one another in favor of their electronics. And when friendships are wired through a remote device like a phone, we're suddenly free to be thoroughly despicable to our "friends." Seems like friendship is largely disposable. But maybe that's not too new. The way we execute it today is.

Americans are almost religiously fervent about rights. We think they're so important that we'll fight to protect them -- kill, even -- and we'll even manufacture some of our own (like "the human right to a living wage" whatever that means). But as ardent as we are about rights, we're just as easily ready to jettison them, at least for others, when allowing them is too inconvenient. Freedom of religion? Absolutely! Right to bear arms? Sure! Unless we don't want you to have it. Then it's disposable.

We've arrived at the point that children are disposable. Certainly the youngest. Sometimes it's because they're "malfunctioning" -- Down Syndrome or the like. Other times it's because they're inconvenient. Inconvenient. "Umm, no thanks. Maybe another time. Kill this one." More recently we've expanded this. Seven states, Washington D.C., and Maine in 2020 have legalized disposable adults. If life is too difficult, we can simply toss them. The only difference, apparently, between the babies and the adults is the adults get a say in it. In either case, it would appear that life isn't really that valuable to our society.

I don't think anyone would disagree that an item we once held in high regard -- worth fighting for and fixing at any cost -- but no longer do is marriage. Once considered a permanent relationship except in extreme cases is no longer that important. Redefine it. Reevaluate it. Toss it if it's inconvenient. Too much work. They say nearly 50% of all marriages end in divorce. (The statistic is misleading, by the way.) Disposable marriages.

Or how about religion? Singers, preachers, and other big names in Christianity loudly jettison their faith when it violates their views. Joe Biden was recently refused Communion in the Catholic Church because of his stand on abortion. (They're against it; he's for it.) He claims he's a practicing Catholic. Because religion is important, vital, really up there on the list of priorities ... unless it's too much work, not worth keeping. Disposable religion. Even God is disposable to many (most?). I mean, when He's offering something good, He's in. But when He calls for something harsh, unpleasant, or hard, maybe not. A lot of people are practical atheists, claiming theism while living as if He's not there at all. We make God Himself disposable.

It doesn't look very pretty, in fact. So much of what should be valuable to us is largely not worth maintaining, working on, or retaining. If the going gets tough, the tough throw it out and find something new. We are in a hugely disposable society without even seeming to notice that before long we will show up on the list of things that are disposable.