(no subject)

[xiphias]

The aphorism "waste not, want not" is a rather destructive concept in America today. Because it implies that poverty is a moral failing. If you're poor, the aphorism says, it's because you're wasteful, and lazy.

Comments

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

As I said, it's optimistic, and I didn't say that I believed it to be completely true--just a guideline that could use more air time these days. But the saying says nothing at all about one's level of poverty--not the same thing as "want". Frankly, I don't think that waste is widely viewed as a moral failing. If it were, then we wouldn't need HOV lanes, for instance.