Laundromat
"What we do about ecology depends on our ideas of the man-nature relationship. More science and more technology are not going to get us out of the present ecologic crisis until we find a new religion, or rethink our old one." ~Lynn White, Jr.
After work on Saturday I went to the Laundromat. I had to wait a few minutes for a washing machine to become available. Many patrons of the Laundromat spend the absolute minimum amount of time in the place--I am not sure where they go--others wait. I like to wait. It's nice to be with other people, even when everyone is trying so hard ot mind their own business. And I like to read from a book, something I don't seem to make enough time for.
The book I had in the car is a reading anthology for a college-level Anthropology 101 course from the 1970s. It's an eclectic mix of poetry, stories and essays. I've had the book a long time and I'm pretty sure that I paid ten cents for it a used book sale. What a bargain!
I read Lynn White, Jr.'s much-cited 1967 essay in Science, The Historical Root of Our Ecological Crisis.
I sat among the waiters. There was a Latina woman with a a faraway look, a Black fellow about my age, and another Latina woman with a child, I guess about two years old. The woman also sat with a faraway look.The little girl was watching videos on a phone and her demeanor was quite calm . Every time the child showed something to her mother she smiled or laughed sweetly. The old fellow was also watching something on his phone, and hummed quietly at times.
The single woman got up and gathered up her two bags of carefully folded clothes, perhaps her ride had arrived. Mother and child as well as the man also got up to inspect their wash. Then another woman arrived with a toddler who screeched when his mom put him down to load a washer. The old guy tried to engage the boy by asking his name. His mother answered saying, "Naheim" and the man repeated the name. The woman corrected his pronunciation, "Nah hEEm." He asked where in Africa they were from and she offered from Ghana. He said that he took a DNA test and learned some of his ancestors hailed for West Africa.
Once the washer was loaded and the coins dropped, she picked up Naheim, who finally stopped squealing. With all the activity the little girl wandered in my directions, I could hear the song playing on the phone. When she got to the chair near me I sang London Bridges along with the video. She smiled and when back to where mom was.
Later I helped the guy fold a gigantic duvet, the only thing he'd washed and dried. After folding and filling her laundry baskets, the woman put her daughter into the car seat and loaded her baskets into the car. Then she popped her head back in the door and very cheerfully said, "Goodbye." It is a very good feeling to have washed and folded a batch of laundry And it made me feel good to share some minutes with some ordinary folks like me at the laundromat.
It also felt satisfying to finish a thought provoking essay.
