Why do we (and by "we" I mean "I") collect, accumulate, acquire and store"stuff?" By way of definition, "stuff" are those items and possessions that have no immediate bearing on our health, safety, welfare, sanity or nutrition. For example, a refrigerator is not "stuff," but a never used wok is. A television is not, but a 4 year old magazine is. A hammer is not, but a container of 4 1/2 million (approx.) twisty ties is. A winter coat is not, a pair of elephant leg windowpane plaid polyester pants most definitely is. I think you get the picture.
I have kept stuff for so long I don't remember why I kept it. I have some stuff so old it could vote (if it had a picture ID.) Some of my stuff was given to me and some I actively sought. And at one time I thought it might come in handy "someday!" Well guess what, boys and girls, "someday" seldom arrives. But I still have my "stuff" just in case it does.
One of the Gas Laws (no, not the one about never eating beans and broccoli in the same meal) states that "A gas expands so as to fill the available space" - or something like that. Well, my "First Law of Stuff" states that "Stuff expands so as to overfill the available space." And lately, my stuff has gotten past that point. So I have been trying to get rid of "stuff." And it is hard, on several levels (and by levels I do NOT mean the unexcavated piles that defy carbon dating.)
First you have to identify exactly what kind of "stuff" it is. This follows a continuum from "Oh, that's where that went!" through "What was I (or whoever gave this to me) thinking" to "What the hell is this anyway?" Next comes the critical act of classification - "keep" or "toss." To those of us with packrats in our family trees (mea culpa) this decision can be agonizing. Many times a declutterization project has been derailed at this juncture. A common yardstick applied to wardrobes is "Have I worn this in the last year?" Some of us, myself included, need to ask "Have I seen this in the last year?"
Once the retention dilemma has been resolved there come more questions. "If I keep this, where do I put it?" is a common one, for, at least if you are me, if you had a place for it it would not be "stuff" but rather a "necessity of life as I know it." This begets a giant game of Tetris, where you try to fit all the pieces together as compactly as possible. Unlike the computer game, however, the "stuff" does not disappear when this is accomplished! Or if the item is classed as "toss," how to dispose of it. ("Sure I could landfill it, but is that the "green" response? Maybe someone else wants it....I'll ask all my friends / coworkers / random people in the street. Better yet, I'll E Bay / Craigslist it! Make some money off it, yeah, that's it! ") Stop yourself right there, Buster (or whatever your name is) because unlike the aphorism, one man's treasure is another's trash.
So slowly I have been identifying, classifying, moving and either keeping or tossing my "stuff."
I am nowhere near done, but I have made progress. Not just physical progress, but mental progress as well. For I have found that freeing myself from my "stuff" has been liberating. I no longer look at it and think "I should do something about this 'stuff'." I have met the enemy and it is "stuff." My two best weapons are my paper shredder and my trashbags. My greatest allies are Goodwill and Freecycle. See you at the landfill!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
D Day + 65
June the 6th, 1944 - forever etched into the world's consciousness as D Day, occurred 65 years ago today. It will forever be remembered as a day that marked the "beginning of the end" of World War II in Europe, the first step in the liberation of France and one of the most remarkable events in the history of the world. It is right that it be remembered as such, and more.
But to me it is also a date upon which to reflect upon and honor those men and women of a generation, slowly vanishing, that experienced their "day of days" on that date. They were called, most notably by Tom Brokaw, the "greatest generation." They set aside their hopes and aspirations, and in many cases their lives, in pursuit of a common goal. This, in itself, is remarkable enough, for they set aside what they wanted and took up the challenge of what needed to be done. But to me, the truly extraordinary thing was was their aim, not to conquer or aggrandize or even survive, but to liberate the oppressed.
I fear that never again will we stand united in pursuit of such a lofty vision. We have become polarized and fragmented. The "Me generation" has replaced those who fought and sacrificed.
I often wonder how our country would now respond to a similar challenge. I know, we displayed unity and resolve in the days after 9/11, but what have we sacrificed as a country? Surely the lives of soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines, but not on the same scale. 10,000 Allied casualties were suffered in one battle, on one day. We have to take off our shoes at the airport, in 1944 you couldn't even buy shoes. We complain about the price of gas while then most civilians were limited to 5 gallons a week. We "slave away" at our jobs for 40 hours a week, but many defense plant and shipyard workers put in 12 - 18 hours a day, six or seven days a week, for years.
Now they are passing on at an increasing rate, yet they are mostly invisible to us. We see not the corporal, or the seaman, or the defense worker. We see the greeter at Wal Mart, or the usher at Church, or the older person sitting alone at the cafe. So I raise my hand in a salute to them, the dwindling ranks of the World War II veterans of either the war fronts or the home front. And if you happen to come across an " eighty or ninety something" person, buy them a beer, or an iced tea, or a cup of coffee and ask them, "What did you do in the War?" You might be surprised.
But to me it is also a date upon which to reflect upon and honor those men and women of a generation, slowly vanishing, that experienced their "day of days" on that date. They were called, most notably by Tom Brokaw, the "greatest generation." They set aside their hopes and aspirations, and in many cases their lives, in pursuit of a common goal. This, in itself, is remarkable enough, for they set aside what they wanted and took up the challenge of what needed to be done. But to me, the truly extraordinary thing was was their aim, not to conquer or aggrandize or even survive, but to liberate the oppressed.
I fear that never again will we stand united in pursuit of such a lofty vision. We have become polarized and fragmented. The "Me generation" has replaced those who fought and sacrificed.
I often wonder how our country would now respond to a similar challenge. I know, we displayed unity and resolve in the days after 9/11, but what have we sacrificed as a country? Surely the lives of soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines, but not on the same scale. 10,000 Allied casualties were suffered in one battle, on one day. We have to take off our shoes at the airport, in 1944 you couldn't even buy shoes. We complain about the price of gas while then most civilians were limited to 5 gallons a week. We "slave away" at our jobs for 40 hours a week, but many defense plant and shipyard workers put in 12 - 18 hours a day, six or seven days a week, for years.
Now they are passing on at an increasing rate, yet they are mostly invisible to us. We see not the corporal, or the seaman, or the defense worker. We see the greeter at Wal Mart, or the usher at Church, or the older person sitting alone at the cafe. So I raise my hand in a salute to them, the dwindling ranks of the World War II veterans of either the war fronts or the home front. And if you happen to come across an " eighty or ninety something" person, buy them a beer, or an iced tea, or a cup of coffee and ask them, "What did you do in the War?" You might be surprised.
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