#707 taboo

Over the weekend, our town held a city-wide garage sale.  I may not fit the profile of a typical garage sale shopper, but I too, was among the many who scanned the tables and racks. 

Another one of my mom's sayings was that "someone's trash is someone else's treasure." It applies not only to garage sales, but to the whole reused industry.  Whether it is due to the economy forcing people to be more price conscious, the thrill of finding great deals or the environmental pragmatism of reusing goods, people of all income levels are shopping i the second hand market.

In the past three years, Goodwill's retail sales have increased 75% and their stores are setting record levels of sales.  Studies show that about 20% of people shop in thrift stores regularly.  "It's not a taboo thing for a lot of people anymore," said one of the store owners.

Has there been something related to your organization that had a stigma that is now lifting?  Perhaps you work with mental health, once an unspeakable topic.  Or maybe you serve gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender issues that have mostly come "out of the closet".  Or perhaps you work with diseases that are now more widely known thanks to the host of commercials promoting prescriptions to cure them.  And, of course, the civil rights movement has changed the landscape of what is current practice.

Many things that are acceptable and even commonplace today were once frowned upon or left unsaid.  Like the stigma that used to accompany second hand shopping, can you do something to make other behaviors socially acceptable?  Does there really need to be a taboo about the choices people make of how they shop, live or work? 

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

Sources:
Goodwill proves to be retail juggernaut by Martin Moylan for Minnesota Public Radio in the Telegraph Herald, April 26, 2014, p. 4D

The thrift economy by Erin Murphy, Telegraph Herald, January 12, 2014, p. 1B/3B