Saturday, October 06, 2007

Match boxes retirement at computer age

You got matches? Check out your kitchen drawers. I actually found two in mine, totally forgotten at the very bottom of the drawer, unused. They must have been there for at least a few years. They're stuck together by humidity. Neglected, forgotten even. Useless? This thought came to me tonight as I was lighting my cigarette with my favorite lighter. I went to check my drawer, and found them there, weird objects from another century. Pretty soon they're gonna be antiques. People may start collecting them. I kept thinking about this, oddly enough, about all these match boxes lying at the bottom of drawers in people's homes, if any. What are we to do with those? I kind of felt a hint of nostalgia at the memory of the cracking sound, followed by the acrid sulfurous smell, and then, the light!of a match. The particular light a match produces, different from the one of a lighter. Who still uses them? On the bright side, you might tell me they were made of wood, so soon we won't have to cut trees any more to make matches. Sure, yeah. But don't we make lighters out of plastic? At least matches burned. I don't think those cheap lighters are recyclable. They try to make them look fancy, with bright colors, or personify them, but they feel cold to the touch, unlike matches. Plus they're more costly. How come we've become so dumb as to pay more for unrecyclable plastic lighters?
So I was thinking of what is to become of all these match boxes, maybe, if we're not using them, we should gather them all and make a huge bonfire, to offer them a dignified cremation, in return for all the loyal services they have rendered us.

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