WQ - Recycled Ideas

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I'm participating in the Wednesday Quotes link-up hosted by Marsha at Always Write. There isn't an actual link-up this week, but I'm writing anyway, because it gave me a good opportunity to make use of a Wednesday Quotes post I started a couple weeks ago. Or to recycle a post, if you will. Because the prompt is "Recycle/Rejuvenate" and I really didn't want to talk about recycling paper and plastic.

I bet I'm like most people that see the word "recycle" and think about putting out empty cans and bottles in a blue bin or bundling our newspapers and cardboard. I'm supportive of efforts to recycle what we can, and I believe we should be careful to use all our resources responsibly so we take good care of the environment. At the same time, I tend to be skeptical about how effective some of the recycling programs really are. But I think that might be a controversial discussion, so I thought it might be interesting to look at recyling other things besides paper and plastic.

Recycling isn't going to save the world, but being conscious of it and your surroundings can. ~Lisa Germano

My hobby of not attending meetings about recycling saves more energy than your hobby of recycling. ~John McCarthy

That McCarthy quote made me laugh with its twist on the saying about how this meeting could have been an email!

"Reduce - Reuse - Recycle" has become a popular slogan and I like that it applies to much more than just the empty soup cans and mayonnaise jars. Can I reduce how much I throw away? I hate throwing away food so we try to buy only what we can eat or store. There's no sense buying the twenty pound bag of potatoes at the much lower price per pound if there's no way we can eat all those potatoes before they go bad. Packing our dinner leftovers in reusable containers for the next day's lunches reduces the amount of waste. Many items I don't need or want any more can be useful to someone else, and passing on those things to someone who wants them is much better than just throwing them away, and is a way of recycling. I've joined a Buy Nothing group locally and it's a practical and generous way of giving new life to unwanted items, sharing with others, and keeping money in our pockets. 

We are not to throw away those things which can benefit our neighbor. Goods are called good because they can be used for good: they are instruments for good, in the hands of those who use them properly. ~Clement of Alexandria

Way back around the year 200, Clement had the right idea, I think!

Ideas and words can be recycled and given new life as well:

I think we would all like to believe that every new event demands a new word. But we're environmentally conscious with our words. We recycle words we've got. ~Erin McKean

I usually start writing a novel that I then abandon. When I say abandon, I don't think any writer ever abandons anything that they regard as even a half-good sentence. So you recycle. I mean, I can hang on to a sentence for several years and then put it into a book that's completely different from the one it started in. ~Kate Atkinson

I do this, in a way, with the articles I've written for my blogs, especially my homeschool blog. I update and recycle posts I wrote years ago. Some of them are seasonal, like articles about Thanksgiving or Memorial Day; and some are evergreen informational posts. I recycle my how-to posts about high school writing topics as the class I tutor may want to refer to them.

I sometimes marvel that there are always new songs being written. Doesn't it seem like composers would run out of chord progressions or melody lines that are brand new? Of course, there's a lot of recycled music too, especially in the form of cover songs and re-releases, and there can be some mixed opinions about those! It's not often that I prefer the cover version of a song, but it does happen!

The fact that people still know us is, in my opinion, a result of our music and of the big money that runs the music industry today. The people who control the industry are accountants who recycle everything in new, nostalgic packages, and everything else, to make more money. ~Rick Wright

Mr. Wright might be disappointed to know that I did not know who he was and had to look him up. Turns out I do know his music, because he was a founding member of the band Pink Floyd, but he might also be disappointed to know that I really don't like their music. And yet, I've twice seen a Pink Floyd tribute band recycle their music, so I can certainly see the truth of his statement!

Artists often give objects and media new life as well, with creative uses of found objects and scraps, or turning what might otherwise be trash into a canvas. And of course, like in other creative endeavors, the ideas and themes are often recycled, reused, and rearranged to give them new life and meaning.

This yard sale mirror got upcycled . . .

with some color, and then upcycled again . . . 

to become this!

Are these old scratched records? Or a canvas to paint?

Even a broken record got a second chance.

Painting doesn't freeze time. It circulates and recycles time like a wheel that turns. Those who were first might well be last. Painting is a very slow art. It doesn't travel with the speed of light. That's why dead painters shine so bright. ~Marlene Dumas

Recycling is a way to give a new lease on life to something otherwise spent or useless. To me, there is still a sense that something recycled is getting old and tired, and isn't really at its best any more. But being renewed or revived or rejuvenated is different. That carries the sense that something old or dead has become new and fresh and can start over again with energy and vitality. So when it comes to our hopes and dreams, and our humanity, recycling doesn't seem good enough. I think what we really need is renewal and rejuvenation!

If you don't like the way your life is going, redesign it. Redeem the years you lost. Restore your vision, revive your passion for living, and reclaim what was dormant inside of you. I cannot give you the dream but I can give you the tools to reach the dreams you have inside. ~T.D. Jakes

Somehow that brings me back around to the power of our words and thoughts to help us. Speak life and encouragement to those around you. You never know the impact your words may have.

Like apples of gold in settings of silver

is a word appropriately spoken.

Like the coldness of snow in the heat of the harvest

is a faithful messenger to the one who sends him;

he refreshes his master's spirit.

~Proverbs 25:11, 13~

Of course, I found a few humorous quotes that I had to include! Please enjoy these gems:

I regard this novel as a work without redeeming social value, unless it can be recycled as a cardboard box. ~Ellen Goodman

Clearly NOT an encouraging word, but pretty funny! I'm glad I don't know what novel was being criticized!

Thanks to my mother, not a single cardboard box has found its way back into society. We receive gifts in boxes from stores that went out of business twenty years ago. ~Erma Bombeck

As I say, one can go too far with recycling efforts, and reusing wrapping paper is a bit too much, in my opinion! But it's hard to throw away (or even recycle) a good box, isn't it? If you've moved often, you'll know what I mean!

Here's one about needing reviving that I think should have found its way into my chocolate post from last week:

If you are not feeling well, if you have not slept, chocolate will revive you. But you have no chocolate! I think of that again and again! My dear, how will you ever manage? ~Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sevigne

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I need a nap and some chocolate right now, I think. But I did tease that I'd recycle a WQ post I started a couple weeks ago and never published, so I'll do that now. I had started a little collection of photos and quotes on the theme "Twisted" that I didn't finish and link up at #WQ #43: Twisted. I didn't want my collection to go to waste, so I'm upcycling them here.

Reality itself is too twisted. ~Hunter S. Thompson

The earth suffers for the sins of its people,

for they have twisted God's instructions,

violated his laws,

and broken his everlasting covenant.

~Isaiah 24:5~

We're all kind of weird and twisted and drowning. ~Haruki Murakami

What twisted people we are. How simple we seem, or at least pretend to be in front of others, and how twisted we are deep down. How paltry we are and how spectacularly we contort ourselves before our own eyes, and the eyes of others . . . ~Roberto Bolano

Wisdom will save you from evil people,

from those whose words are twisted.

~Proverbs 2:12~

Sometimes God writes straightforward in twisted lines. ~Gloria Trevi

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Back to Recycle:

Wednesday Quotes is hosted by Marsha at Always Write. Marsha is taking a break from hosting for a couple weeks, so although there's no link-up, this post is for #WQ #46: Recycle/Rejuvenate.

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