Ain't no such thing...

...as away.

I was reminded this morning of the Great American Delusion of 'away', a mindset that has led us to garbage dumps the size of Staten Island, sinking nuclear submarines in the ocean, and proposing to send nuclear waste into space.
It's not solely an American delusion, of course. Everyone has it, even if it only manifests itself as a desire to throw a cigarette butt or a candy wrapper out the car window.
But we have it in spades, and this is its epitome:
The ladyfriend lives in an older building, and when I opened the medicine cabinet this morning, I finally noticed The Slot.
For those too young to remember it, the "slot" is just that, a molded opening about two inches wide, in the back wall of the metal case of the medicine cabinet.
It's purpose, believe it or not, was to accept razor blades (the old, Gillette kind, with two edges) when they got dull.
Was there some special disposal solution hidden behind the wall? Some high tech grinder, or metal-eating bacteria?
Nope.
Just a space in the wall between the studs, where the blades, rusting quietly since their last rinse before disappearing into The Slot, lie until the house is remodeled or torn down.
Having done both in my time, I can tell you it is a bizarrely sad sight to rip the metal carcase of the cabinet out of the wall and discover a rust-red pile of years' worth of shaving.
But it's still not 'away', just 'over there, out of sight'.
Just like all the other crap you blindly throw Away, assuming that it actually goes to such a place...