Now that we’ve evolved to the point where all goods are created by 6 year-olds in Asia somewhere, we’ve really gotten unaccustomed to fixing things.
This makes a lot of trash, as everything from computers to socks ends up in a landfill after they get even a little roughed up.
Well, the Dutch group Platform 21 put together the Repair Manifesto to address this very predicament: “Don’t end it, mend it!”
Part of their idea is to buy things you know you will be able to repair. Which reminds me of how easy it was to work on that 1965 Ford pickup I used to drive when I was in high school. Sure the lack of power steering gave me arms like Wolverine but under the hood was this playschool-like engine with big exposed parts that made sense.
It also reminds me that the starter is going out on my Volkswagen, a repair I’ve tackled many times over the years on many different cars, believe it or not. I know! I’m a chick and everything.
As far as the repair manifesto, I completely agree with each of its visionary tenets. On a much more practical level, you can save loads of cash by fixing things, though Platform21 decries this motivation. Besides saving money, you can impress (or intimidate the hell out of) your lover with your mad repair skeelz.
In the last year I have fixed my dish washer, a lamp, hot glue gun, light switch and a lowly hairbrush, all by just taking them apart and looking for anything that’s obviously jacked up.
(Note: electrical tape comes in many shades that blend with today’s fashion colors! Also note: disconnect anything you take apart from all power sources before you do anything. Even if you’re just having a peek. I’m serious.)
If you’re new to repairing, it’s probably a little intimidating to tear things apart. But remember this: if you’re throwing it away anyway, it won’t hurt to take it apart, will it?
My busted humidifier was a mystery beyond my comprehension, so I kicked it over to the boyfriend, who has actual real job experience with fixing stuff. Mmm a fixer. Sexy. He took it apart again, and to my gratification, couldn’t fix it either.
The lesson? We have limits, space and time being two of the most cruel. It wasn’t obvious what was wrong to either of us, so that was enough to send the humidifier to the big dump in the sky.
And that leads me to my heroes of the week: The Cult of Done. They have their own manifesto too. Number one on the list? “There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.” Sweet.
So perhaps my manifesto would be more a hybrid of the two- along the lines of “give fixing things a shot, you never know”. And if you can’t fix it, you can always make an artwork out of the parts, or enjoy sweet revenge by lighting it on fire in your backyard. Either way, it will be done.
