Jason Fix Please
Taking a trip to an antique store, you might be startled to notice the number of tins, jars, bins and bags of buttons. Seeing the many, many buttons reminds me of my grandmother who had a large tin full of buttons. How did she, or anyone, acquire that many buttons?
When I saw just how many buttons this one antique mall in Cambridge City, IN, had on its shelves, I became intrigued. Buttons came into being with buttonholes in the 13th century and have proliferated ever since. I decided to ask people how and why they save buttons.
1. Bob told me that even today he has a button bowl where he keeps the extra buttons that come on clothing or buttons that fall off and don’t get sewn back on.
2. Tom and Dave said that when shirts wear out, parts get used for polishing silver or dusting; the buttons have to be taken off so they don’t scratch the object being cleaned and eventually they wind up in the button tin.
3. Julie and Jerry talked about one grandchild taking 100 buttons from their button box to school for their 100th day of school. They had made button bags as quiet toys for their grandchildren, as buttons could be sorted by color, or by size, or by uniqueness. There are so, so many different buttons in the world, sorting the various colors would be fun.
In my Wired Word Bible study, we read how widows in India and Nepal are told they can only wear white or black, so as not to disrespect their deceased husbands. No colorful, beautiful buttons for them. They are shunned and not treated well at all. It’s very sad how they have to live their lives. I’m very thankful for the “Red Tika Challenge” bringing an awareness of widows’ situation in these countries.
Many thousands of years ago, on through today, God has told us to take care of widows and orphans. Do we? Do I? The Bible study encouraged us to see how widows and orphans fare in our communities and how we can come along side them. This is something I need to look into.
Imagine if the button jars only contained white or black buttons. It is the assortment of colors that make these jars, boxes and tins so fun to look at and appealing to buy. All people are God’s people. All colors are God’s colors. All people should be able to enjoy all colors whether in clothing, skin, hair, eyes, or buttons. May we work toward freedom for all people and take note of Psalm 146 where we read “God … takes the side of orphans and widows…” If God does, shouldn’t we?
