Upsides to the Down Economy/ Shoe Repair

I was in the shoe repair shop yesterday and guess what? It was packed. with 4 people waiting to get their shoes fixed. Usually, the place is a ghost town. I guess it just goes to show, we are learning that fixing quality items is better than running out and buying cheap replacements. I had to laugh when my grandmother, a product of the depression, was taking in her manicure scissors to get repaired. To me, it didn't make sense, factoring in the time spent and money used for gas to run the errand, when you could buy a new pair for $5. But it is also one of the things that bothers me about our society- that everything is so disposable. That we would rather do the cheap and easy thing, than possibly the right thing. Because, when you think about it, where do the old scissors go? In the trash, of course, along with all the rest of the trash we generate. I still have my grandmother's pair of manicure scissors (she died 8 years ago) and I guess when they break, I'll take them in to get fixed. Again. Not exactly an heirloom passed down to generations, but maybe just a good lesson from a child of the depression to an adult in a recession.