I enjoy old adages and phrases. They pull people together in a sort of common bond. One of my favorites is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”   

I take this to mean the following: if something is and has been working well then leave it the heck alone. Case in point; my laundry hamper. The hamper was behind the door in the bathroom. The hamper was doing a fine job collecting soiled clothing and towels, minding its own hamper business. It was out of view, yet convenient. Someone, (whom I may or may not be married to and who may or may not move things from their perfectly suitable locations on whims), decided that the hamper should be relocated.

One wouldn’t think such a thing would be overly disruptive. Oh, but disruptive it is. Here is what happens: People, (who may or may not live in my house, whose laundry may or may not be washed, dried and folded by yours truly) do not respond well to change. Said people will remove and toss their clothes and towels in the direction of the absent hamper. It’s as if they still visualize it where it was and should still be. Alas, the hamper is absent and the laundry lands in a pile behind my bathroom door. Here it becomes a toasty little napping spot for a cat. When the laundress observes the empty hamper, she of course thinks there is no washing to be done and there begins the vicious cycle of laundry back up. Nothing irritates the laundress more than finding random piles of dirty clothes.

Of course there is room for improvement in just about everything that is made by and tended to by human beings. Nature, however, is perfect in its way. There are magical ways to nature that we moronic humans cannot and will not understand. It’s just a fact. Trust me. Just examine the world outside. While I am still hunting through the storage bins for winter clothing, the animals of the world have changed their coat weight and color and are prepared, come what may. When I become convinced at the same time each and every year that spring will never come, there is suddenly a crocus peeking through the last patches of snow and ice. If flowers could talk they would say, “Listen, we know what we’re doing, lady,” and they would be correct. Nature is sort of a show off sometimes.

When humans think they can improve on or fix things that are clearly not in need of either, we humans get bit in the butt. We just can’t seem to learn how to leave well enough alone. I equate it to pizza. No, really. You can microwave a pizza in about two minutes, which is convenient and wonderful. However, is the microwave pizza going to taste like the pizza that was baked in a five hundred degree, brick oven? Nope, it sure isn’t. It is going to be semi-soggy and half the cheese will be melty-good while the other half is still frozen. So while convenience, at face value, seems fabulous, it does not always yield the best outcome. There is always going to be a microwave pizza mogul or two that think they know better and can do better, but the old pizza chef can just stand back and wait because in some instances the traditional way is the best way. People will see this.

Another example: If the mama bird pushed her little birdlings out of the nest too early, for instance; though I am certain that the mama bird is sometimes tempted to do so; there would be disastrous results. (And should the mama bird put her hamper in a certain spot in the nest, well the rest of the nosey birds should just keep their little beaks off of it.)

Things that are nourished, observed over time and appreciated have a better outcome. Some things don’t need to be changed.