What if you lost everything you owned? Would it matter?

[TBF]

This is an interesting perspective that was actually written a few years ago for the CSM, and I found it on my Christian Left page on FB. I have actually been through something like this many years ago. I was young and left my apartment in the middle of the night. It was a domestic situation rather than a fire, but same sort of thing. Sometimes you don't even have time to think about what "stuff" you want to take. You take your purse/wallet and get the hell out. See what you think -


Santa Barbara, Calif.

<snip>

At one point, I noticed my BlackBerry blinking at me. I saw I had five missed calls from my husband Ryan. And two messages. That's not like him. I stepped outside to call him; he sounded strange.

The news was dire. A huge fire had broken out in the foothills of Montecito, which we can see from our porch. The Santa Ana winds, blowing uncharacteristically late in the season – and particularly ferociously – combined with unseasonably hot temperatures, and my town was in flames, my street under evacuation. Those winds change direction unpredictably; there was no way to know if we'd be OK. Ryan had corralled the cat and the dog, and wanted to know what to take from the house. I said I'd let him know.

Back inside, I downloaded the news. Jenny, a left-brained attorney with control freak tendencies, whipped out a notepad and pen. "Let's make a list," she said.

I just sat there.

"Paperwork," she said, mainly to herself. "Pictures. Journals. Heirlooms? Jewelry? Do you have a 'stuff box?'" I could swear she even asked me if I had any doilies. Doilies?

Another friend, asked, "What about your passport?"

"Yeah," I said, munching on some pita. Jenny wrote it down.

The three of them exchanged looks. "She's handling it really well," somebody said to someone else.

Finally, I looked up. "It's so ironic," I said. Jenny put down her pen. With thoughts of New Orleans stirred up from the book reading, there I sat, on the brink of losing everything.

Ultimately, my passport was all I came up with for Jenny's list. Later, I thought of this, amused at my logic. So, in case my house burned down, I'd be able to get out of the country? But in the face of disaster and with no time to prepare, how do you choose? What do you take? At the end of the day, isn't it all just junk?

<snip>

I realize those who lost everything are likely feeling anything but calm, anything but comfort. And yet. That moment had something to teach me. This culture, encouraging us to accumulate, to upgrade, telling us there is no such thing as enough, may be responsible for its own undoing.

And maybe the gift of disaster, of floods, of fires, of unprecedented economic unraveling, is the opportunity to start over – and to do it differently.

• Shannon Kelley is a columnist at the Santa Barbara Independent. She is also a freelance writer.

Read the entire piece here: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/0109/p09s02-coop.html

[Cirque du So-What]

1. As Jack Kerouac observed

in On the Road, 'as soon as you own a rug you know you own too much.' My personal values have changed over the years to the point that possessions have mattered less and less with the passage of time. IMO the world would be a better place if the consumerist mentality were replaced by satisfaction with having basic needs met instead of continual craving for more & better stuff. Pity that the consumerism that afflicted western societies infected the societies of developing countries, passing along a subliminal misery that is never satisfied.

[cyberpj]

29. I want to be more like that. My problem is

I still want remuneration for all of the material stuff I bought.

Hah! And then I don't ever seem to feel like doing what it takes to try to get that remuneration.

So here it still sits, surrounding me.

I've even had my parents' stuff (yes, parents' - two originals and those acquired by the two originals) taking up space and annoying me for years now. (Where did those years go anyway?) And why do I feel guilty when I consider just letting it go?


I always wonder what the world might have been had Native Americans been in any kind of position to have won the wars. What if people had continued to agree to the tennants of a peaceful people admiring and appreciating and caring for nature.

Ah but there was never a chance against European aristocratic Chritianity. Never a chance.

[cyberpj]

30. Here. I'll do it first... "The Aristocrats!!"

The punch line: The shocked (or intrigued) agent asks what the act is called, and the proud answer (sometimes delivered with a flourish) is: "The Aristocrats!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aristocrats_(joke)

[Starry Messenger]

2. I have to admit I like my stuff.

Books, my art stuff and old photographs would hurt to lose. I had to move from my live work space to an apartment 3 years ago and I'm still sad about a bunch of things I had to get rid of. I'd be a terrible Buddhist. I'm all about attachment.

[TBF]

5. Photos and books for me -

but now with Kindle and a laptop I'm good to go ... I do like pretty things, but there's not much I consider irreplaceable.

[kestrel91316]

19. Scan those old photos digitally and store them online in the cloud:

I use Dropbox, but there are many others. I think Google Picasa for pics is free. And Google Docs.

[Starry Messenger]

21. I've started to do that.

I finally got about 10 years worth of old slides scanned last summer. That's been in my bucket list for a long time. I'm trying to decide if I want to put them up on a website for a gallery, or just get them up on Photobucket asap in case anything should ever happen. I should probably just get them up in the cloud so it's off my mind.

[toddaa]

22. You sound like a pretty good Buddhist to me

You recognize the suffering in attachment to stuff. The trick is having stuff and not being attached to it. Enlightment is trivially simple. That's why many find it unattainable.

[cyberpj]

31. You sound like a pretty good Buddhist yourself. And you remind me to return to mindfulness.

We long for permanence
and as a result we suffer
for we find none.

[southernyankeebelle]

3. Stuff? The older I get I realize you can't take it with you. I stopped buying expensive things. I

don't even invest in a brand new car anymore because really other than going to and from work and to the doctors and grocery shopping I don't need anything fancy. I have alot of house dresses. I don't need allot of cloths because I love staying home. As you get older your prospective changes. Funny how things you had for years and years and passed down to each generation you wonder why do we collect this stuff. I guess you just want to pass it down. There are things that I have I would miss if something bad happens but I guess you learn to let it go beause that is the way life is and in the long run it really doesn't matter. It is just stuff.

[TBF]

11. That's what I find as well.

I guess I got over the accumulation thing early in life. When I left my small town to move to the city I took 2 suitcases with me. I figured I'd buy what I needed and go back home if it didn't work out. Once you are successful doing something like that, it gets easier as you go along. One thing I would buy along the way was books. Finally I have cured that addiction (partly) with a Kindle. I still buy non-fiction in hard-cover, but the mysteries I read for fun are on Kindle. So silly to keep those - you don't read them again after all unless it's a classic.

[southernyankeebelle]

12. Boy you are right about the kindle. We have a very small house and bookcases everywhere. Now I

like getting books on my kindle.

[Autumn]

4. The only thing that would matter to me are all of

my photos and my important papers and my pets. All my photos and papers are in a large steamer trunk by my large bedroom window. I will toss that through the window into a truck. LOL. The rest, it's just stuff.



I just found this group this morning.

[TBF]

6. Glad you found us! :)

[socialist_n_TN]

7. I've lived my whole life without the need for a lot of stuff.........

I moved to Nashville in '79 with just my musical equiptment (I was a working musician then) and a few clothes. And with only $30 in my wallet. I DID have a place to stay though. And the car was a Gremlin.

In '93 my second wife surprised me with a divorce request and I left that situation with my musical equiptment and a few clothes. Oh and a bed.

So I've done it before. It's not the most comfortable situation, but it wasn't devastating either. The BIGGEST fear I have though is homelessness. I've always had a place to go to and a roof over my head. Without that, I'd be REALLY psychologically uncomfortable.

[TBF]

9. Same here - I've always had friends/family I could turn to and would do the same for them.

And I'm not advocating austerity measures or anything like that either. My thoughts were more along the line of thinking about the materialism and whether that keeps us complacent when it comes to demanding better from our society.

[StandingInLeftField]

24. What's a musician without a (significant other)?

Homeless.....

[socialist_n_TN]

25. Old joke, but actually somewhat appropriate

[StandingInLeftField]

26. I looked for the "Ba-Da-BUMP!" emoticon

but couldn't find it. lol

[cyberpj]

32. Travelin' Light (The Secret of Moving On) - David Pack w/Ann Wilson

Always been a favorite of mine:

(start it at 18 seconds or listen to clacking for a bit)
David Pack w/Ann Wilson – Travelin’ Light (The Secret of Moving On)

[Uben]

8. Divorce took half of my money!

Sure hated to break that twenty!

[white_wolf]

10. I'll admit despite the fact that I consider myself an atheist Buddhist, I'm still really bad

about attachment. It would suck if I lost a lot of my stuff, but if it had to be done, I could handle it. I'll admit, I wouldn't like it. I don't know if that makes me a worse socialist or a worse Buddhist.

[socialist_n_TN]

13. Don't give up on it wolf. You're young

(and I don't mean that to be condescending despite of how it might have read . Attachment takes a lot of work to get rid of and you never totally get rid of it. Just keep working at it and the attachment becomes less and less.

[LWolf]

14. Some things would matter more than others.

Any of my books that are out of print or hard to find.

My journals, notes, and writings.

Some keepsakes from friends and family that are gone...sentimental value. A lifetime's worth of photos...not digital.

My home, if I couldn't find a place for myself and my family (3 horses, a dog, a cat, a sheep, some chickens) to live. The sheep and chickens I could find a home for; they are not really family. The rest, though, ARE.

[TBF]

15. I've never been much into ownership -

grew up in houses that my parents owned & my grandfather had a huge farm/acreage. I saw it as very confining. Stuck in the middle of nowhere ... I couldn't wait to grow up and see the world. Now as an adult I can appreciate the solitude we had along with the ability to own animals etc ... Especially with animals such as horses (which I also love and would like to own again). Other than that I live in a rental now and really don't mind. I'm sure we'll buy a house at some point but the value for me will be in adopting more dogs ... sometimes hard to have more than one when you rent.

[LWolf]

16. Yes.

If I didn't have nor want animals, where I lived would not be as big an issue. Having lived both in town surrounded by people, and out in the "boonies," though, I'm addicted to space and quiet and privacy. If I lived in town, all my windows would be closed and shuttered, and I'd be trying to "shut out" everything right outside my door. I'd spend less time outside. Not healthy for me.

I LIKE being stuck in the middle of nowhere, lol.

[TBF]

17. lol re Middle of Nowhere

believe me after living in the suburbs for five years I think i'd prefer the farm about now

[kestrel91316]

18. This is one reason I store a lot of my computer files in the cloud.

Family photos now CANNOT be lost in a fire, nor can business financial records. I also keep a hard copy of some of this stuff in an alternate location. If both locations go, that can only mean nuclear holocaust, lol, in which case records won't matter.

My kitties would be the most grievous loss. The rest is just stuff, even if it has sentimental value. I lost a lot in the Northridge quake and have had a little different attitude toward stuff since then.

[jwirr]

20. I don't have much of real value except to me. If I lost it all I would be living in an empty room or

under a bridge. I do have some items that my grandmother left to me and I want them to go to my great grandchildren but they are not vital. I am saving my books in hopes that my children will read them someday. And as a genealogist I would hate to lose my photograghs and other items that I have put together since 1965.

Actually the things that would hurt me the most would be losing Social Security (both SSA & SSI), Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps. They are the items that allow me to survive. If I lost them I would be totally dependent on my children.

[toddaa]

23. I can never lose a starry night or a walk in the woods on a winter morning

When we value accumulated junk over the things that are always there, we miss out on some pretty good "stuff".

[gateley]

27. I did. Everything I owned in the world except the clothes on my back -- all my family photos,

keepsakes, furniture, jewelry -- everything was stolen.

I was bereft at first, but life kept on going and now even though it still makes me a little sad, and I'd love to have the important things back, I realize that the memories of those I love are the most precious gifts I have, and I'll have those forever. I can do without the Waterford Crystal.

[joshcryer]

28. Everything I cherish fits on an 8gb USB stick.

And it's already in the cloud. So you can take it all.

[TBF]

34. I hear you on that -

I'm just older than the tech wave (my little brother was the one programming for his elementary school because the teachers couldn't do it ...), but I have certainly embraced my laptop and kindle. Carrying around cartons of books is history. Next I need to learn to scan old pictures - then I will be all set.

[dana_b]

33. we had a fire and even though we didn't lose everything,

about 2/3 was gone. The only "things" I miss (we lost two pets ) are a couple of items that my mom made for me and some old albums (pictures and music). My mom passed away 13 years before the fire and I have pictures but that's it from her.

[supernova]

35. I've thought about this

Last edited Thu Dec 15, 2011, 04:08 PM - Edit history (1)

I live in the house I grew up in. It's been a priveledge and an honor. And I hope to grow old here. But you never know. Fire. Flood. Tornadoes.

I am not really attached to stuff, I'm attached to certain pieces, I guess. The couch I'm sitting on no. I could lose it tomorrow and not shed a tear. For years, I slept in my grandparents bed, and it's still in the other bedroom even though I use a modern bed now. It would hurt to lose that. Pictures (which I hope to digitize in the near future) would hurt greatly. The serving spoon my Dad used at the table to serve cobblers, ice cream, and other gooey delights. Yeah, I'd miss that. My mother's jewelry.

But I would mourn its loss and go on. That's really all we have is the present and the future.

I think downsizing into a steamer trunk is a good idea. Otherwise, I wouldn't miss any of it. It's all interchangeable, the use of daily objects. We develop attachments to things because our family elders used them and using them now makes us feel safe, loved, and connected. If need be, I could whittle that down to one.

I like the ideal of letting go of attachments, but it is very hard to put into practice!

[TBF]

36. Agree - it is hard to put into practice.

I still need to learn to scan photos.

Right now I have one big supposedly waterproof trunk that I bought at Container Store to hold albums and papers - it gets thrown in the back of the car when we have a hurricane evacuation. Also a lock box with super important documents - although we've thought about acquiring a safe deposit box for those (bank nos, birth certs etc...). When the hurricane comes there's not much more than a day or two at most to decide what to take ...