Out here in the real world, folks avoid attaching a certain word to explain what is wrong with people, such as myself, who allow ourselves to be plagued by the scourge of clutter.
All sorts of explanations are offered by those interested in the matter but no one that I know of yet has ever had the insight or courage to come right out and say what it is that truly is the genesis of the disease of hoarding. Until we are ready and willing to admit the obvious about what really is a serious issue, we will never come close to solving the worst modern-day puzzle ever.
Only one word is needed to wrap this all up.
That word is insanity.
A month ago, in the midst of a decluttering frenzy, I donated a perfectly good, in fact, a very good, inkjet printer to a local second-hand store. It hurt a little bit to do that even though this fine machine we inherited hadn’t been used by us in years, as we have another printer we prefer.
I have given up selling stuff on the internet but I have found that is a great way to offer stuff to the general public for free. I could post an ad for a box of used bandages or a pair of running shoes that had lost their soles, and if I wrote FREE on the ad, they’d be gone in an hour.
So, I have taken to donating and with the printer gone, a wave of relief washed over me.
That was 30 days ago and this afternoon, I found a big plastic envelope filled with materials relating to the printer. Page after page of operating instructions and two big booklets. Along with a DVD loaded with software needed for the printer.
Panic set in.
Oh no!
Within minutes, a wave of thoughts and possibilities and scenarios flooded my brain. I should go to the second-hand store and see if they had sold the printer. If they had, would they know who bought it? I could track them down. If that wasn’t possible, I could take a picture of all this stuff and post it on the Internet, offering it free to the owner of the printer. (Except that guy who took my used bandages would probably claim it all.)
As this was sending me near to breakdown territory, I noticed that one of the two big manuals I had found was the French version. I thought that I could throw that one out, at least, but what if it turned out a person who speaks only French bought the printer from the second-hand store?
And where the insanity really gets cranked up to ten is when I realized that anyone under 30 would throw all the manual material out or even leave it in the store and just find out everything they needed to know about the printer on the Internet.
I explained my latest dilemma to my family at supper tonight. And I have to say I never saw material go from our table to the recycling box more quickly. It was shocking, in fact.
Apparently, none of the members of my family worry about the same things I worry about. And tonight I will lie awake worrying about why that is so.
I hope the guy who took my bandages is okay.
©2024 Jim Hagarty
