Being in the junk removal business gives you an interesting perspective.
During the holiday season, you look around and you see ads for everything. Ads have gotten more high-tech in recent years, but they’re still basically the same format they were decades ago. Make the customer feel a need. Show them whatever it is that you sell. Explain how what you sell will fill their need. Whether it’s an old magazine ad or an Internet website, the game is the same.
And we have nothing against products that fill needs. We enjoy our computers. We like driving our cars. We count ourselves blessed that we have many things that make our lives easier.
But at some point, for many people it’s become about more than filling needs – the holidays have become about the “stuff”. And boy oh boy, do we know “stuff”. All day, every day we carry stuff out of peoples’ homes. Some of it is well-used, and you can tell it filled a need and brought joy to the owners. But some of it is barely-used, bought in the hopes of finding happiness in a new sport, a new musical instrument, or the latest fashion craze. Stuff like that doesn’t usually bring joy. In fact it frequently brings sadness, guilt, and regret. Oddly enough, getting rid of the stuff is sometimes what brings the joy!
And that brings us back to Christmas.
One of the biggest reasons we do what we do is because we value community. Sometimes “community” means family. Sometimes it means friends. Sometimes it’s organizations helping people that are short on family and friends. And “community” is where we think stuff finds the most value. You can get a couch for a few hundred bucks at the store, but you can’t buy a brother or a friend to sit on it with you and watch Netflix. You can buy a ready-made meal at a restaurant, but it’s always the most enjoyable when you have somebody to share it with. Without a community, promises of joy are unlikely to be fulfilled.
So this Christmas, we encourage you to think about community.
If you gather with friends or family, we encourage you to make the most of the time you have together. If you don’t have friends or family to gather with, or even if you do, we encourage you to find community in new ways. Maybe you could reach out and meet some of your neighbors. Or maybe you could find a local Meetup group or Zoom event to check out. You might be also surprised at how rewarding it can be to volunteer with or donate some gifts to a local organization that helps people in need. Basic stuff we take for granted like winter hats, coats, and mittens can be a huge blessing to them. Whoever you are, there’s almost certainly a community that would be better off with you as a member.
No matter what you do, we hope you have a joy-filled, meaningful, & healthy holiday season. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!