Annie Anderson | Blog

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Or do you have a “throw away” mentality?

In recent years, I’ve noticed what is, to me, a disturbing trend. I call it the “throw away” mentality. And basically what it is, is purchasing something without much regard to it’s quality and thinking “Oh, well, if it breaks/gets lost/malfunctions/whatever, I’ll just get another one.”

And this disturbs me. Greatly.

Why?

Simple. Because it’s seeping into other parts of every day life. Parts of life that should be respected, parts of life that should be held to a high regard, with integrity and moral responsibility.

For example, when I was growing up, my parents placed a lot of emphasis on who on I hung out with, who I called my friends. They taught me that making good choices when it came to relationships was paramount and that true friends don’t hurt you – whether that be physically, emotionally or by doing things such as drugs and other non-healthy behaviors.

But now-days, I’ve noticed there are many kids who seem to just be allowed to do whatever they wish, with very few – if any – rules in their homes. And I think this type of lax attitude imparts to todays youth that it’s ok to be reckless – “No worries – you can always change your mind later.”

Well, not so fast.

There need to be more boundaries. There needs to more thought and attention paid to what we’re teaching our young people. It’s simply NOT ok to be so casual with everything.

We must relearn to “pay for quality.”

We must be conscious of our choices and realize that everything does have a consequence. And we must teach our children that quality is always worth more in the end. If we pay for quality, I firmly believe we not only have a greater respect for our own things and lives, we also have a greater respect for the world around us.

Now, I’m not talking about being frivolous, either. No, just good, sensible choices that reflect respect for each other, for ourselves, for our environment.

And this goes for relationships, too. With The Teenager in high school this year, I’ve seen some kids with a different boyfriend/girlfriend nearly every week. I’ve seen an attitude from some kids that shows no respect for their peers, let alone those they call “friends.”

So the question is – how do we teach our children to have this type of respect and conscientiousness for not only each other, but for life and the world around them? Somewhere, there has been a disconnect in teaching these values and if it’s not corrected soon, we could see some pretty scary results when these kids become adults.

It’s only my opinion, but I also believe that the disturbing trend towards domestic violence is a direct result of this “throw away” mentality. Like it doesn’t matter how things or people are treated because there’s always another one, another can always be “bought.”

As a survivor of domestic violence myself, this is something that is always in the forefront of my mind. I do not want my children to ever have to be involved in that situation. And should they ever find themselves there, I want them to recognize it as quickly as possible and know that there are tools and support for them.

I think it’s time we get back to basic common sense, respect for ourselves and others, and learning to make good – and lasting – choices.

Our future leaders depend on it.

In the arena,

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Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.