All You Need is Stuff
So, I've been meaning to write a new blog post, but I didn't want it to be without meaning. And, earlier this week, it acquired meaning.
My sister got my purse stolen.
Now, before I let you think this was all about me, the only thing that was in the purse that was mine was my calculator, which in itself is a great loss, because it was a TI84 Plus Silver Edition. The purse itself was also mine. My sister lost her camera, phone, iPod, pencils, and, she made sure to tell me, "three pads in the front pocket." There was more, but I forgot it all (and reason) when I flew off the handle at her for losing my purse. It was $50, I told her, and even more valuable to me.
The thing is, I hadn't used the purse in a least a year, if not more. But suddenly, I deeply felt the connection I'd made to my purse, and my calculator, through the time they were both mine.
Why is it that people form such great attachments to things?
I am so attached to books (and not just one book, but every book in the world), that I cannot bear to have anyone write or otherwise mar the perfect surface of any page of any book. But seriously, why would anyone do that?? In the library at my school, they had a book sitting in some kind of liquid for weeks! It was horrifying.
Why do people pay so much for things? That's another thing that bugs me. Sometimes, even more often around Christmas, I get this image of someone pulling out their wallet (my image is pretty indiscriminatory, but usually I see the back of a male head or an older woman) and paying for something they don't actually need. I despise the thought of my little sister blowing what little money she earns taking care of the neighbor's dogs on candy, or some other such nonsense. I just want the whole world never to have to spend the moeny they have to work so hard to earn. Lately, I've had a job that leaves me aching in the legs and just exhausted from head to toe, and I especially appreciate the hard work it takes to get money, so why spend it on inconsequential things?
One Christmas, last Christmas to be exact, I watched a very old looking lady, I assumed around 60-70 (I'm so not saying all 60-70 year olds look old, my grandma is in that age range and she looks at least 55) pulling out her credit/debit card and paying for a few things on the counter in front of her. I hate the thought of it. I don't know anything about the woman, but I imagine the only money she earns is from social security and she's using it to...bring her kids/grandkids some happiness on Christmas, I know.
I just can't stand the commercialism and materialism of the world, and how I can't stay away from it. I hate it. I can't even think of a word that describes my hatred. It's unfathomable. It makes me shudder every time I think of it. This unnamable, indescribable it that is probably not making much sense right now.
But, oh well. There it is.
What about you? What do you think of the world and its money? Were you confused by the way I switched from being attached to things to spending money? Because I'm not sure I understand how that happened...
My sister got my purse stolen.
Now, before I let you think this was all about me, the only thing that was in the purse that was mine was my calculator, which in itself is a great loss, because it was a TI84 Plus Silver Edition. The purse itself was also mine. My sister lost her camera, phone, iPod, pencils, and, she made sure to tell me, "three pads in the front pocket." There was more, but I forgot it all (and reason) when I flew off the handle at her for losing my purse. It was $50, I told her, and even more valuable to me.
The thing is, I hadn't used the purse in a least a year, if not more. But suddenly, I deeply felt the connection I'd made to my purse, and my calculator, through the time they were both mine.
Why is it that people form such great attachments to things?
I am so attached to books (and not just one book, but every book in the world), that I cannot bear to have anyone write or otherwise mar the perfect surface of any page of any book. But seriously, why would anyone do that?? In the library at my school, they had a book sitting in some kind of liquid for weeks! It was horrifying.
Why do people pay so much for things? That's another thing that bugs me. Sometimes, even more often around Christmas, I get this image of someone pulling out their wallet (my image is pretty indiscriminatory, but usually I see the back of a male head or an older woman) and paying for something they don't actually need. I despise the thought of my little sister blowing what little money she earns taking care of the neighbor's dogs on candy, or some other such nonsense. I just want the whole world never to have to spend the moeny they have to work so hard to earn. Lately, I've had a job that leaves me aching in the legs and just exhausted from head to toe, and I especially appreciate the hard work it takes to get money, so why spend it on inconsequential things?
One Christmas, last Christmas to be exact, I watched a very old looking lady, I assumed around 60-70 (I'm so not saying all 60-70 year olds look old, my grandma is in that age range and she looks at least 55) pulling out her credit/debit card and paying for a few things on the counter in front of her. I hate the thought of it. I don't know anything about the woman, but I imagine the only money she earns is from social security and she's using it to...bring her kids/grandkids some happiness on Christmas, I know.
I just can't stand the commercialism and materialism of the world, and how I can't stay away from it. I hate it. I can't even think of a word that describes my hatred. It's unfathomable. It makes me shudder every time I think of it. This unnamable, indescribable it that is probably not making much sense right now.
But, oh well. There it is.
What about you? What do you think of the world and its money? Were you confused by the way I switched from being attached to things to spending money? Because I'm not sure I understand how that happened...
Dear Ms. Shenanigans,
ReplyDelete"Things" are an interesting phenom in our lives. Sometimes the things prove things to the other peeps that look at them. Sometimes our stuff makes statements about us. Sometimes the care we have (like your attachment to books, a fine attachment, I might add) for things may have its roots in a spirituality we have deep inside of us that values what God has created.
And that may be where you made the leap -- deep within yourself -- from stuff to commercialism or materialism. In our home, we are currently, slowly, going through drawers, closets, boxes, even what's in our garage, in an attempt to downsize. We live in a big country, we have large ideals, we end up with large piles of stuff: much of which we would not miss if we were to wake up tomorrow and it would have gone walkabout.
Some of my stuff is from one, two, even three generations ago. I can look up from my computer and see a piece of pottery my great-grandmother's mother brought over on the boat from the old country in the 1800's. But I am even downsizing my generational stuff. There is one of me and many in the next two generations. The purpose is not to just fill their homes with "stuff" but to bring connectedness to family and their values in years past. And to share the love of those past generations that have raised me so that I now how to raise the generations that come after me.
Well, I have done the same thing as you: how did I leap from spirituality to commercialism to raising the next generation? Your posts are inspiring, Ms. Shenanigans, if they can touch your readers on so many levels.
Have a nice evening, as always.
Well, that sounds nice. I do like to be inspiring. As for your post, I like the connection you make between our like for things and our desire to keep them nice and what God has created. I guess I never thought of it that way. I always thought of a relationship with God being all-natural and, (this may be a bit extreme) if a person likes something outside of what is "natural" or explicitly Christian (as in music), then that person must change that about themselves. I always thought that liking different types of music and books meant that I wasn't "doing" it right, Christianity, I mean. And then my perception of spirituality as something you "do" seems completely wrong, too. And maybe it is. And maybe I'm making absolutely no sense. Which seems to me the perfect place to stop writing. Or is it? Darn that "Essay" class I took and my professor for asking me to perpetually doubt myself. But then, was I always doubting myself? And there I go again. I think my teacher would be quite pleased with this comment. Excuse the oldish sounding phrases (if they are, indeed, oldish sounding). I just watched Pride & Prejudice. And now that I have completely changed the subject, I'm guessing it's time to stop with this locomotive that's going nowhere.
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