Some basic respect, please, for other people and their things.

Spent the day at my husband's place of working doing lunch for them. I saw a lovely rusty orange microfiber sofa that I would love to have, or give to one of my children. It was contemporary, very pretty and warm feeling.
Just happened to notice while I was there that one of the customers had taken off her children's shoes and was letting them jump on the mattresses! These are mattresses that belong to the retail establishment in which she is shopping. Same customer had earlier been letting her children push strollers around into furniture and appliances.
I read an article years ago called "Those Poor People and Their Poor Ways". I'm sure I have bored people to death with discussing parts of that article, but really, how can a person treat anyones property that way? How would you like to be the person who bought a mattress that someone else's children had been playing on? How can you justify treating your own property so poorly that you break it down as soon as you have it?
My church used to have a maxim: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." In spite of some recent evidence to the contrary, I do agree with that maxim. We have too many products that cannot be repaired if they break down. We have too many poorly made things. And we treat our property with such casual disregard that things have to be replaced much too often.
I love the clearance store because I love a bargain and can't help but love the idea of buying a leather couch that is brand new for 1/2 off because someone didn't like a little scratch in it. It was going to get a scratch within minutes of being in the house anyway.
However, it wasn't going to get the scratch from the way I treat it. I take care of my things. (and I vow here and now to take better care of my things in the future.)