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Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
These holiday weeks throw me all off. We get that extra day away from work to mow the yard, work on the house, go camping, hang out under the stars, or just watch the hummingbirds as they fill their little tummy’s at the feeder.
And just when you are starting to enjoy it, your thrust back into the working world. It’s almost as though you have had a mini summer vacation and then are ripped from your peaceful existence and back into the everyday grind that consumes us.
I spent most of the Labor Day weekend occupying myself with mowing the yard, cleaning the house and going through my treasures to raise a little cash on ebay. As I was sitting in a pile of photos and trinkets and books on the floor around my computer deciding what I could live without it hit me kind of strange that all these things that I had treasured so much were indeed just things. They took up space, created clutter and really sat unnoticed for most of the last 11 years I’ve lived in the house. I looked over them, and thought of the money I’d sunk into them, the time and energy hunting them and collecting and stashing away in case I ever needed them. I received enjoyment from the collecting and even from having them, but in the end I didn’t really need them I decided.
There is a big difference between need and want. We all want things; new car, nice house, stuff, those $600 shoes, to win the lottery, and a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning. But none of those things are actually needs. We all have become from time to time people of want rather than of need. And as I sat and looked at all the things I don’t need, but wanted, it made me kind of mad that I had spent so much time and energy on them rather than on the things I needed. Were the things I wanted enriching my life so much that I couldn’t bear to part with them? Did they make me who I am? Did they bring me peace? Are they the things that when I’m old I will look back and say, “See all the things I needed when I was young?” Or were they just collecting dust, taking up space and cluttering my life? So online they went, to the highest bidder, off to find someone who will “want” them more than I need them.
And when I’m done…I’m going to take a little more time with the things I need and not worry so much about the things I want. A little housecleaning is a good thing I suppose, and in the end I can always start a new collection of “wants” and hopefully it will be something that won’t just sit around collecting dust.
See you next week...Remember, we're all in this together.