Doorstoppers

"A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think."
-Eleanor Roosevelt

It was a very close call. We almost bought some doorstoppers, those little rubber wedges that so generously prop doors open. Our apartment doors are a particular nuisance because they tend to gravitate toward closure and as such, prevent a reasonable air flow around our home. The objects we examined were priced at a dollar for three, and we hoped we might do away with the rolled up junk-mail sandwiches that presently are employed as doorstoppers, none of which actually hold the doors for a sufficient length of time.
We agreed to buy them- it was quite on a whim that we were even in the store- and had in fact begun treading the unaccustomed path to the checkout when some thoughts occurred to Spouse and I. We have grown used to Thinking While Shopping and frequently pause to pay attention.
The thoughts were these: namely, that our concern regarding the unbalanced doors is not worth spending an entire dollar to mend, nor is it worth adding to the supply of miscellaneous items already in our possession. It might not be deemed a significant amount of money in the grander scheme of things but just the same it is our money, and the thought of some industrious fellow becoming rich because people wish to continuously keep their doors in position- that was rather too much to bear.
It is one thing to line a deserving businessman's pocket so he might earn his daily crust, quite another to fill one's own pockets with useless lumps of clutter.
We put the package back on the shelf, shaking our heads slightly- not at the product but at ourselves for momentarily believing in it.