Waste not, want not: A principle to live by

Old people sure know how to keep things for a very long time. They make good use of the resources available to them. Although some of them didn't go to school, they still had good knowledge of recycling and keeping things for future use. A typical example is my grandmothers, both paternal and maternal. These two women can recycle anything, the things we see as cabbage are their most valuable treasure. I had the opportunity to live with both of them while growing up and I learnt basic values of not wasting any resources as a woman.

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My maternal grandmother always says, "A woman is the life of the home, her managing skills tell if the house is in order or not." These are words I hold dearly to heart. With my grandmothers, there is nothing like rag. Every cloth that is not good enough to be worn anymore is turned into either bags made with just a needle and thread or purses to keep money or jewelry that they won't wear for a long time.

I once asked my paternal grandmother why she goes through the stress of trying to recreate things by turning things we should have discarded into new products despite being an illiterate and she said, "The creator had given us everything we need to enjoy life as humans, the only thing left for us is to use our initiative to bring unimaginable things to life. The creator himself is not pleased with the wastage so why can't we just keep them and use them later when their needs arise?".

I was forced to tell her that most of these things she keeps aren't going to be useful again because the world is evolving and new things will be created so why keep the old things?, she replied with, "I am saving for the raining day, if I waste not, I will want not when that time comes".

Those words hit deeply because, despite not being educated, these two women knew the value of management, unlike the present Gen Z generation that cares so little about such things. My paternal grandma is a woman of herbs. She loves growing natural herbs. She created a little garden for herself where she plants all these daily needs herbs and vegetables using bottles to raise them as seedlings till she transfers them to the bed.

She used spoiled fan trays to spread vegetables in the sun or to grill bush meat back then, because my paternal grandfather was a farmer during his lifetime. All the farm products that we knew as perishables, such as tomatoes and some vegetables that could deteriorate, are always sun-dried and stored, including meats and fish. I wonder how she does that. When she is cooking, everything is always looking brand new. During the scarcity of some food products, we always had excess back then because she would have preserved more than enough when necessary. She never let anything go to waste.

These two women had impacted my life positively and had taught me a great lesson that "if you don't waste, you won't want"; that's a nice motto to live by. I don't do so well at recycling like them but I also make sure not to waste any resources. I plan for the rainy day to avoid regrets.

Thanks for your time and your comments will be appreciated.

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