I’ve heard that said somewhere, but I can’t remember where or cross-reference it either. If anyone knows, then please let me know.

One of the things I have a hard time coming to grips with is the impermanence of things.

Moving from Montreal (Canada) to Madrid (Spain) made me face how much junk I had accumulated. I went though box after box of stuff packed with dreams. More dreams than I can ever realize in my lifetime. Yet, many thing sin those boxes are obsolete, ancient and of no value. No one cares about them. I had a 5Mb tape backup drive; useless – you can barely store an 8 megapixel jpg image on it.

Books are another impermanent thing. For me, books have value, they have significance, they are something special. Yet … they are not. They are disposable. They are transient.

As someone who would like to be a writer, who dreams of being a writer, books are special. Yet, in reality, they are not. Books are published at a phenomenal rate. You wrote a book on rose gardening this year – wonderful. Next year, someone else's book on rose gardening will be published and yours will be “so last year”. But why? Has the field of rose gardening changed so significantly from one year to the next?

How about magazine articles: many magazines regurgitate the same articles year after year after year. Spring and Summer will soon be upon us, so a number of magazines will be running “How to Trim that Winter Flab” articles. But does it really change from year to year? Does new ink really need to be spilled? You can bet that, in August, Astronomy magazines will be running articles on the Perseid meteor showers (and on Leonid in November). sigh.

I started the month with the goal of ridding myself of 100 books. I have managed to discard 127 (this doesn’t include books discarded prior to my project). Some are old and obsolete. Some are as close to brand new as you can get. But all are junk. Some will go directly to the recycle bin, others I will try to get new homes for.

I hate impermanence. Things should have value in this world.

Comments

Stephanie

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I have a case full of mix cassette tapes. I used to make them like we burn cds now. I can't bring myself to throw them away - even though I no longer have anything to play them on. I, too, have many books that should be passed on to new owners - or recycled. For me it's a matter of either finding the time to sort through them all, or detaching myself from whatever meaning I may have assigned to one or another of them. Completely personal meaning, because, like you said...they are indeed impermanent.

Sunday 31 January 2010, 22:58

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richard

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It is the detaching that is hard. And teh attachment can be on several levels:

(1) it might come in useful or someone else might use it. IT is the reason I kept the old kid's books (I have lots I didn't get through) becaus eI hoped one day my kids would read them. They don't. They are interested in other books. Right now, Tania (age 10) is looking for new 'fat' book to read (she just finished 'Host' and has read all the Twilight books).

(2) there is emotional investment in it. Definitely the hardest to break.

(3) financial investment. Hey! I spent money onthis stuff, it must be useful. I now spend a lot les money on stuff (practically zero).

Unlike you (and most people, I suspect) I was never much into music, so I have no mix tapes. Besides, CDs sound so much better (ok, ok, I know, people don't use CDs anymore, its all MP3 - what can I say, I am old school).

Monday 01 February 2010, 03:13

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freckled-one

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I found myself in that same boat when the I was faced with the possibility of having to move yet again. I began sorting through all of my prized possessions. In total I ended up giving away 20 boxes of toys, books, clothes, useless computer gadgets and gizmos to a charitable foundation. I still could use to get rid of more. Isn't amazing how much things with gather over a lifetime? I feel your pain..

Wednesday 03 March 2010, 00:39

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richard

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THe worst part of it is that so many dreams and hopes and ambitions are tied up in those things. And yet ... I get overwhelmed (one of the reasons I was slacking off the past few weeks) because there just isn't enough time to do everything. Sometimes I wish I was a dozen people or so, so I could focus on 20 things at once. It is very hard for me to focus on just one thing.

Wednesday 03 March 2010, 14:12

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