2008 Woodie Awards
Moving unboxes many donating opportunities
Sara McIntosh
Issue date: 1/16/07 Section: Viewpoints
- Page 1 of 1
The process of moving, packing, lifting, sorting and stressing is a beautiful moment in life that should be appreciated by everyone. You realize who you are as a person by the accumulation of junk in your home and storage unit. I suppose that discovering your pack-rat tendencies or hoarding aspects should be a traumatic experience for most people, but, I am not most people.
After living in a place for two years and developing some rapport and comfort with my surroundings, it became dire to move in an expeditious fashion during the dreaded week of finals in order to take a step in the right direction on the path of my life. In case you were unaware, living with your fiancé at your parents' house is enough to kill most relationships. I would advise anyone to avoid this seemingly innocent gesture like the plague.
Excuse my digression. This moment of cardboard boxes and the car being loaded to the top full of my possessions became the eye-opener in that I realized that I had way too much crap, most of which was dusty, unappreciated and easily forgotten. That is until that dreaded day came to pack it all up in a box. With that said, what exactly should a person do in these circumstances?
The dust cleared and my wits were abounding in the revelation that I did not need, require or desire all these tokens of memories to clutter up my new abode. Quite happily, I gave away whatever I could to poor, unsuspecting victims in order to release myself from the bonds that tied me to all this junk.
For those things that were not able to be taken by friends and family, I felt, seeing that Christmas was right around the corner, that people who were unfortunately suffering from an economic downtrend might benefit from goods that were packed up in storage, forgotten and not appreciated by me at that time. After all, I live for two plus years without these kitchen gadgets, dishes, bedding and furniture slowing me down, so why bring them with me. It was almost like Christmas anyway because some of this crap that I was unpacking appeared foreign and new, even though I slowly remembered my ownership of these items.
What is the lesson in my experience? Give away things that you don't need and stop binging on goods that you don't have to have just because you are bored and Wal-Mart is a great venue to run into people you may know.
Loneliness is a great way to spend money, which gives you a sort of euphoria that is only temporary. Then, come moving day, you will be utterly perturbed with all your junk and be in the position of choice: pack it all up and take it with you only to keep the clutter and junk in control of your life or give it all away because you realize that your life does not revolve around meaningless, dusty possessions.
The act of donation is a two-folded gesture: strangers as well as you benefit from one simple act of charity. Granted, charity should be something that you do anonymously without telling anyone in order for it to be a true act of charity. But, it never hurts to do something for others and still feel great about your own humanity.
After living in a place for two years and developing some rapport and comfort with my surroundings, it became dire to move in an expeditious fashion during the dreaded week of finals in order to take a step in the right direction on the path of my life. In case you were unaware, living with your fiancé at your parents' house is enough to kill most relationships. I would advise anyone to avoid this seemingly innocent gesture like the plague.
Excuse my digression. This moment of cardboard boxes and the car being loaded to the top full of my possessions became the eye-opener in that I realized that I had way too much crap, most of which was dusty, unappreciated and easily forgotten. That is until that dreaded day came to pack it all up in a box. With that said, what exactly should a person do in these circumstances?
The dust cleared and my wits were abounding in the revelation that I did not need, require or desire all these tokens of memories to clutter up my new abode. Quite happily, I gave away whatever I could to poor, unsuspecting victims in order to release myself from the bonds that tied me to all this junk.
For those things that were not able to be taken by friends and family, I felt, seeing that Christmas was right around the corner, that people who were unfortunately suffering from an economic downtrend might benefit from goods that were packed up in storage, forgotten and not appreciated by me at that time. After all, I live for two plus years without these kitchen gadgets, dishes, bedding and furniture slowing me down, so why bring them with me. It was almost like Christmas anyway because some of this crap that I was unpacking appeared foreign and new, even though I slowly remembered my ownership of these items.
What is the lesson in my experience? Give away things that you don't need and stop binging on goods that you don't have to have just because you are bored and Wal-Mart is a great venue to run into people you may know.
Loneliness is a great way to spend money, which gives you a sort of euphoria that is only temporary. Then, come moving day, you will be utterly perturbed with all your junk and be in the position of choice: pack it all up and take it with you only to keep the clutter and junk in control of your life or give it all away because you realize that your life does not revolve around meaningless, dusty possessions.
The act of donation is a two-folded gesture: strangers as well as you benefit from one simple act of charity. Granted, charity should be something that you do anonymously without telling anyone in order for it to be a true act of charity. But, it never hurts to do something for others and still feel great about your own humanity.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Sharon Sinclair
posted 1/18/07 @ 3:42 PM CST
As I sit in all my piles of clutter and wonder where it all came from, I read about my plight. I am not alone as a collector of crap that may or may not be used. (Continued…)
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