My roommate and I got into a conversation about ownership. I don't remember how it started, as our conversations never seem to have stops or starts, merely trickle from one zygote of an idea to the next. I get so frustrated that I can't afford a new winter coat, or that cute Wellesley cable knit crewneck from J.Crew or whatever fickle item crosses my mind, but I know fully that whatever it is I want will still leave me as empty as whatever it is I bought previously (except my backpacking guitar--THAT was a lovely purchase. And my PFD--I love my PFD). In one religion class I took in college we called it 'suspended gratification'--that idea that your happiness was within grasp if only that next purchase was made, that next thing was attained. Stretch your fingers and happiness was yours.
I've come to hate things.
They just complicate, clutter, bog down and distract.
I remember when my friends and I paddled the Everglades in 2000--we each brought a total of three shirts for 14 days. It was refreshing when we had 'clean shirt day' , we all got to celebrate that one day that week that we had a clean shirt. It was so basic. (In a bit of fate, "Mountains of Things" by Tracy Chapman just came on the internet radio) There were no outfits, no looking good, no matching, no mirrors. It was just us. I wish that happened more often.
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