Friday 16 February 2007

Everything Must Go



“Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can.” - Imagine, John Lennon.

Why do we collect things? There is a basic human need (at least in the western world) to surround ourselves with our possessions. We all do it and as Mr Lennon says, life without possessions would be hard to imagine.

Why do we feel the need to amass a collection of CDs, DVDs, books, records and magazines? I have been an avid collector of all of the above for the last ten years but now – through necessity as opposed to any Zen-like pretensions that I may have – I have decided that everything must go – for a price.

I have decided that two life changing purchases – a first car and a dream holiday to Kenya – far outweigh my collection of stuff. Because that’s what it is: stuff. It may have given me hours of solitary pleasure over the years but it’s all just stuff. Stuff that I don’t use; stuff that I don’t need; stuff that is gathering dust but some reason I have decided to hold on to until now. Why have I been so inclined to keep hold of this stuff?

Well, it’s the same reason as anybody else – the things we own become a part of who we are. Think about it – why on our MySpace pages do we write what music/books/TV programmes/films we are in to? It’s because all of these different interests make up part of who we are.

But it’s not enough to say that you like something – if you’re really serious about it then you buy it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen every episode of your favourite TV programme, you’ll want to watch it again but most importantly you want to HAVE IT. You don’t need it but you certainly want it – it’s capitalism in full effect.

Why else do DVD box sets of television series like Lost or The Sopranos sell so much? So if I was to sell all of my stuff would I lose a part of who I am? Or would I simply be creating more space on the canvas that is my life in order for something new to be painted?

I’m hoping the latter. It would be a great shame if at the end of this sale of the century I felt hollow and meaningless. That highlights how much emotional attachment we give to our possessions: It goes back to when you were at playschool and you wanted all the toys to yourself.

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