The old ways for the new world.

I remember those days from childhood when my father sat us down on weekends and made us polish our school shoes. After all, we had to wear the same shoes, four days a week and got a fine for wearing dirty shoes to school and of course the embarrassment that came with it. He had to polish his Uniform shoes, he is a retired officer today. Time flew by, we could pay someone to polish and shine our shoes for the next few years. I grew up in India, this is what we all did, nothing special. We did that and the habit was broken. I grew up, started going to college, where we wear shoes that don’t need polishing. There was just so much fast fashion, never needed to do this mundane activity till about a few days ago. 

Now, so many years fast forward, after my teens, after my twenties, well into my thirties, I decided to polish my shoes and shine them, simply because they were expensive shoes and were losing the shine. All I could think of, was those times in my childhood, when we were taught to take care of our school shoes. Partially because I’m in a DIY country now and partially because I went back to wearing the leather shoes which need care and instant shoe shiners can only do as much. Now I really understand why they say “you want to know a (wo)man, see her shoes.  

My analysis of my nostalgia made me ponder and write this article.

You want to go farther, you buy a good pair of shoes, of course if you can afford it. There was definitely a time when buying a good pair of shoes was an achievement. It means you have saved up and invested in something you want, not just what you need.  You take care of your shoes, you put that effort, time and energy in making sure they shine and you take pride in it.

In comparison, instant things can bring just so much shine or happiness in life. You want a quick but delicious curry, buy the pre made jar from the supermarket and deal with the after taste of preservatives alongwith that meal, want a new fresh look, buy fast fashion cheap stuff, wear it 3-4 times and give it to Op-Shop, buy cheap artificial jewellery, look cool and trendy and let it go to junk, buy cheap light furniture and replace it in three years, want to quench your thirst, buy bottled lemonade loaded with sugar and deal with obesity, can't sit down and  read a book, listen to the audible. Who has time to put in the effort anymore? 

Creating, maintaining and preserving takes effort, intent and dedication. Its just like anything we do as grown ups, cook a meal from the scratch, maintaining a house you love, having that wooden furniture and taking care of it, putting photos from your last trip on that wall, growing up your plants, nourishing your soul with good thoughts and meditation, having a satisfying career, being with your family. Being close to your parents, siblings and grandparents, a good partnership, friendship, profession, home, your kids, you know what I mean. It all begins with caring for what you have worked hard to build and achieve. I recently read in “7 habits of Highly effective people” if you invest in maintenance and grooming, you will not need to keep investing in new stuff and new relationships. I can totally relate to it now. 

Everyone who can relate to it, has invested time, effort and money on self, people, things, careers and ambition. But we have been running, quite literally, from morning till evening. Not maintaining, not polishing not nurturing, what we have, but buy a new pair (of shoes), breaking our relationships, distancing ourselves from our families, or replacing what does not looks good, every time, or almost every time.

It may be a dramatic event like the Covid era or it maybe simply the love for our leather shoes, there comes a time in our lives, to sit, to think, to look after what we have.  To preserve some old good habits and remind ourselves of the values which were given to us by our elders. Sure they did not know we could get so dumb (or smart ass) using smartphones and smart devices, but they definitely knew how to preserve, because in their time, not everything was in plenty and accessible or affordable. 

The environment and humanity needs us to stop being lazy, quick, instant and dumb. It desperately needs us to preserve what we have. Our families need us to strengthen the relationships. Our profession and our careers needs us to re-focus our energy and preserve the passion we started the journey with. Yes, we can explore another planet to destroy, but really, do we want to do that. Have we not done enough damage already? Sure, we can find new relationships to replace the old ones. Sure, we can find new interests, but what about the careers we built and we loved. 

Personally, I would just want to respect what I have, build the new but do not forget to preserve the old, Use instant when you are really in a rush, not always, call up a friend on birthday instead of sending a message, enjoy cooking that mid week enjoy the rustic feel of that wooden furniture, wear that home knit sweater and take care of your woollens, clean the old yoga mat before buying another one. Just do that will ya and help preserve the humanity and world one bit at a time.