The thought hit me as I heard a podcast guest say to the host, “I was the kid who wore a hole through the knees of my jeans from working and playing so hard.” Exactly. That’s the way it used to be, you rolled, fell, worked, ripped, and even played your way through a pair of jeans. The rips, tatters, shreds, and holes were all earned, almost like merit badges. It took time, it took effort, it took work.
Now, we just buy them that way. Sad.
What happened to work ethic? What happened to the grind? What happened to patience? What happened to it taking some time to get tattered jeans?
Have we become so comfortable; so cozy; so lazy that we’d rather just buy the jeans than earn the wear and tear? Maybe. Maybe we have.
The problem is while the manufactured, worn out jeans pretty much look the same, they don’t carry the memories, they don’t carry the time. They don’t include that time you tried and didn’t quite make it, the time you fell and the blood came off your knee easier than it came off your jeans. They don’t include the time it took to live the life it took to wear them out. They’re missing the best part. They’re missing the process.
We’ve become a microwave world where it’s easier to start and finish as quickly as possible instead of enjoying the ride, enjoying the journey. What’s the shortcut? What’s the secret? Not what path can I take to get from here to there and how can I relish each step along the way?
Og Mandino said, “Cherish each hour of this day for it can never return.” 24 hours, 1440 minutes, 86,400 seconds. Sounds like a lot, till it’s gone.
George Carlin said, “When someone is impatient and says, ‘I haven’t got all day,’ I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day?” Ahhhh, but we do have all day, if we savor the moment, enjoy the journey, work the road to where each day is headed.
I have a difficult time throwing out my old jeans. They’ve become a part of me. They have grown as I have grown (I think that means that we’ve both faded over the years). They are my evolving story.
The new manufactured factory broken-in jeans are, well, missing the point. Those brand new holes and tears are simply wanna-be, fake it till you make it, wear and tear. It’s like wanting to have the scar without suffering the cut. We want to be rich now, famous now, happy now. And we want to wear the worn jeans now.
And that’s WAY too bad because they’re also more expensive that way and not near as much fun..