I’ve never been someone who thinks things will last forever. I know there are no guarantees. I have moved out of enough homes and apartments to understand the impermanence of it all. I’ve owned blowdryers for heaven’s sake — one of the best examples of obsolescence.

I know we have to let go.

Yesterday we had to throw away a perfectly good printer, only a little over a year old. The toner cartridges are no longer made — not even in the vastness of the World Wide Web. I suppose it should be nothing. But should it? It’s not about this plastic box. I guess it’s the simple act of disposal. This is necessary, I know. And I’m not talking about letting go here. I have no personal relationship with this printer. I just don’t want become accustomed to the ease of throwing things away. I worry that if it all gets too simple, we begin to value nothing. A garbage full of electronics is one thing, but how do we keep the bin free of people’s hearts and dreams, ideas and growth, visions and hopes — I, we, must not be so quick to dispose. And it can be easy. With just a click of a button we can unfriend. A few more clicks and we can hurt. Destroy even. Complete disposal.

And this is not to be stagnant. Real change, real growth, I believe comes in the nuturing of ideas. In discussions. Sometimes even hard ones. But just because they can be difficult, we don’t throw them away. We learn from them. We grow. I heard once, when you stop dreaming, you die. When you stop learning, you stop living. So I put together the new printer. I download the manual. I struggle through the “keep it simple” directions on the box. I connect to my phone and iPad. I print out the labels to ship my sold painting to the US from France. And my dream continues. The world can take away your Wi-Fi, your printer, but not your dream. Not your heart. That is for you and you alone to decide.

“After all the tears and questions, she realized that only she could decide if her heart was disposable or not…and it wasn’t.”

**The dance woman pictured is on her way to the US!