Recycle

Recently we were away from home for five days. A friend came and picked up our mail for us, placing everything in a paper carton in our garage. I had forgotten to stop the newspaper delivery, and he was kind enough to pick up the paper as well.

So on our return, there was this carton filled with mail and newspapers. Amazing how much mail arrives at our house in less than a week. Most of it is junk mail, of course, advertisements and the like.

You go on a cruise, let's say, and soon afterwards, thick glossy brochures show up in the mail not only from the company whose services you recently used, but also from their affiliate companies, and even from their competitors. It seems as if, all of a sudden, every cruise line in the world has discovered you as a potential candidate for their future itineraries. Some with special offers and discounts, even. Amazon River cruises, Round-the-Horn twenty-one-day junkets. It's enough to make any ordinary taxpayer feel like a bigshot politician being seduced by special interest lobbyists.

Then there are the beautifully illustrated booklets from department stores and mail-order houses. Sales and discounts are offered on everything from designer outfits to garage doors. Limited time offers. Act now. Toll-free number. Have your credit card ready. It's bad enough we are bombarded with all that stuff in television commercials — their purveyors also seek to remind us with a profusion of paper.

And then there are the solicitations from charitable organizations. Two from the same organization in one day, one addressed to me and one to my wife. How do they manage to keep track? Are the funds they receive being used for the purposes advertised in their own literature? Or simply to print more solicitations?

Is it any wonder that the recycling industry has now become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise?