A new look at laundry and life

A LIFETIME OF LAUNDRY?

Well it’s Monday and for   Many years that  was the day  we washed clothes in America.  There was a kids song about domestic activities and the days of the week and  Monday was  “wash the clothes.”  Now, however, the task is not relegated to a single  day of the week and it would be difficult to do this and the. Average time it takes to do a load of laundry is esatimated to be  1 hour and 27 minutes and we  do eight to 10 loads a week.  Therefore  if we did all the laundry on Monday it would be a 15 hour marathon.  Now there are people who only do their laundry once a week and some do it less frequently.  If you ever want a real fashion treat go to a college town and visit the laundry mat.  You will get to see what people wear when they have absolutely nothing else to wear and the combinations of regal rags can be downright entertaining.  You can also save countless techniques for sorting, choosing laundry soaps, deciding on wash times etc.  One thing is very noticeable.  No two people or now two households elect to do laundry the same.  This is point one.

The history of. Doing laundry.  Some hieroglyphics indicate that ancient Egyptians did laundry (of course they wrote it down so they get the credit.  They placed the clothes in water and stomped the dirt out.  Ancient Romans. Also employed or enslaved people to do laundry by the “stomp” the dirt out method.  In the Middle Ages things advanced to the beating  things on a rock in the river or over a “washboard”  method.  This was the primary  method up until the late 1700s when some foot pedaling wash machine came into being.  Legend has it that some husband invented this for his wife for her birthday thus starting the tradition of men giving their. Significant  others presents that continue stereotypic roles and lead to more work.  The first “motorized” or powered machine was invented right around. 1900 and was called “Thor.”  I’m sure washing machines have been called much  worse things since then and the men who bought them and never used them  have been called a variety of names as well.   This is a second point

Much of the world’s laundry is still hung out to dry so to speak, but  in the 1950’s the use of  electric or gas dryers became more popular.  

How do astronauts  do laundry?  

Just like some college students.  They just wear things till they can’t be warn anymore and then  “burn them”—or toss them. Into space where they will burn up in the atmosphere in  re-entry.  This leads me to wonder if the stray sock that always seem to  happen in earthbound laundry somehow escape and there are random socks floating  around the cosmos?  

Peace, Joy, and Life as Laundry

The next time unlucky are folding together that pair of your favorite  socks or  concert t-shirt, take. A minute to think about  the idea that  seeking peace and joy in life is a good deal like doing laundry.   First, like life laundry goes on and on sometimes.  For the most part we treat life and laundry as if it will never end and almost never experiment with doing it differently.  While we know other people do it differently than us we aren’t  really judgmental about laundry as long as people don’t screw with your  method.   Maybe that’s something  we all could take a life lesson from.   Every now and then in the washing process you may notice that  this pair of shorts just  can’t work one more time. And you set it free.  Peace and Joy could be possible if we did that with ideas and behaviors that have become worn and no longer  fulfill the original function.  So laundry and the machines we use to  do it evolve over time and that’s how seeking peace and joy sort of goes—it changes for any individual over time so wise might expect that  somewhere in the middle of our 48 thousand loads of laundry in life, there will be some  significant changes.  

The Things we add to Laundry and Life...

Well the first soaps we used to do laundry were  made from ash and animal  fats.  Somehow I son’s see “Gopher Guts Tide as being a big seller these days.  Eventually soap specifically for  laundry was developed and converted to detergent  form.   Tide  is the top seller in the U.S.  and nearly 1 in 5 loads is done with a tide produc t or in dollar  terms about 1.02 Billion annually.  Proctor and Gamble is cleaning up in the  laundry and toothpaste market.  

Anyway let’s  put this into spin cycle and finish this load.  We seek peace and joy and we do laundry over the course of a lifetime.  If wee observe closely we find that people go about these things in different ways and can choose. To help one another or complain about how others a do things.  the process for  you and me and lots of folks changes in time and will continue to do so.  Acceptance of differences and change seem to be successful tactics in doing laundry and guess what  maybe that goes for seeking peace and joy.  

Happy Laundry Day!Hey