Journal: News & Comment

Context

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Two weblogs I read regularly, Don Hitchen's and Being Daddy, talked about possessions this week, the first because he got rid of his (broken) first car and the second because his family is moving clear across America. Both guys realized that it's the context of the things we own -- where they are, our history with them -- that gives them emotional resonance, not the things themselves. As Being Daddy noted:

"Everything feels blurry, like our stuff isn't real," my wife said. [...]

[...] I'm looking in moving boxes and the stuff's all out of place. And it's like looking at someone else's belongings, like being at an estate sale or a thrift store.

Don put it this way:

It's not the goods but the memories of pleasant life experiences that are attached to those goods that create the emotion.

Logically then, perhaps, the less stuff you have, the more meaning each thing probably has for you.

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