Comments on: “Grieved: For He Had Many Possessions”

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 01:25:35 +0000

It is no vice to amass Star Trek collectables!

When I was growing up, for Christmas one year my parents gave me a Star Trek play set with 8″ action figures of Kirk, Spok and a Kingon. It was one of my favorite toys for a long time. Recently, someone has purchased the rights to the play set and action figures. You guessed it, I bought a set for my own children (who love it as well). Moral of the story–it’s good to declutter, but it’s also nice to share some of your childhood with others–some of what made you who you are.

Okay, that was a stretch–I just wanted to tell everyone about the Star Trek set.

(Mina: I liked that episode. We watched it with the kids a few weeks ago.)

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:06:29 +0000

***sigh***

By: Mina

Mina — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:57:06 +0000

It might be hard to believe that just the phrase “filk recordings” could be so moving, but believe me by the end of the essay I had tears in my eyes.

My grandparents and parents had the luxury of houses, they got to keep precious mementos and preserve the special importance of such things. I’ve had to live in a series of increasingly smaller apartments, each move has meant extreme culling. I’ve lost many treasures over the years because I didn’t have the resources to store things long enough to know their value to me.

Anyway, if I had a time machine at my disposal today, Ardis, I would take you back to my 6th grade birthday slumber party. As a special treat, my Dad brought home that week’s Star Trek episode BEFORE IT HAD BEEN BROADCAST and projected it on our old home movie screen. It was “Assignment Earth” with Gary Seven and Terri Garr as his mod clad secretary. It was the best party ever.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:25:44 +0000

I’ve found one solution to the problem of so many books, which is an ereader. My wife and I bought Nook Color ereaders last fall, and I currently have about 40 books, plus my scriptures, and a host of pdf and word documents all at hand with a 7″ screen and weighing just less than a pound. The potential is with an added SD card I could conceivably carry around 5000 books in one hand. The problem is that I have to buy all of the books that I already own again to get them on the Nook, and there are some titles just not yet available in an ereader format. So I am acquiring fewer “non-streaming media artifacts”, ie physical books, but not really reducing the shelves, piles, and boxes already there. Kind of like dealing with the national debt. It just keeps on growing.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:30:56 +0000

My wife says she is going to bury me with my boxes of books!

I totally love this non-historical post. I really need to start de-cluttering my life of “treasured mementos”. But then, why do I have this impulse to run out and buy the newest Joseph Smith Papers book?

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:00:46 +0000

Truely fascinating, even without any Mormon history connection. As a friend I appreciate your willingness to share your personal insight with all of us.

By: Huston

Huston — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 03:55:15 +0000

Thanks for the hat tip, Ardis, but that post was written by my friend who publishes as magicmilox, not me. Just giving credit where it’s due.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:19:02 +0000

Over 10 years ago, I moved from a 2800 sq ft house in the intermountain US to an island across the sea. Due to financial constraints, I was able to bring only what would fit into 2 suitcases. I was about 3 years post-divorce, and not really aware of just how ready I was to get rid of all of that STUFF. I had yard sales, gave things away, threw things away, donated even more to DI, then threw away even more. When I was ready to move, I rented a small storage locker for the things I just couldn’t part with. On a visit 4 years later, I was looking through the storage unit wondering why I paid $30 a month to store all of that…

Since then, I’ve tried to remember how liberating it was to get out from under all that stuff. To start over, fresh and clean. And how easy it was to keep my new island home clean without having to deal with so much junk.

Don’t ever love anything that won’t love you back.

P.S. I do NOT keep books to show how smart I am. I have hundreds of books, but they’re not pretentious ones. Just my good friends. No one would be impressed with my collection at all…

By: Sideshow

Sideshow — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:21:16 +0000

It was as though the house were on fire, yet I had time to walk through and rescue everything that meant the very most to me.

That is exactly what cured me of any tendency to hoard — a house fire. After calling 911, I could tell I had time to collect what I wanted, and realized this was the perfect time to rescue those five things you write down in Sunday School that you would take with you to a deserted island. Except I couldn’t remember a single thing from the list. I walked out with a pair of shorts that contained my wallet and keys and left behind everything else, including my impulse to collect stuff.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:55:32 +0000

We suffer not only from our own tendencies to keep too much stuff, but also our kids who have moved out, and don’t have as much space as we do. I currently have in my garage, a large (5 foot tall) cardboard theater diorama from the original release of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, along with a Star Wars banner some three feet by six feet, printed on heavy duty vinyl, also rescued from some theater. Plus our son-in-law, who is a diesel mechanic for a school district, recently moved the tool box he used in mechanics school to our garage. It’s big and yellow. And I also have books to impress people, but they are not doing much of that sitting in boxes in the garage. Need ice skates? Haven’t touched them in over 20 years, and never will again. It goes on, and on. I need to rent one of those big dumpsters with sides to high to see over, park it in my driveway, and just start filling it up.

Life is full of too much stuff. Nice to have you share your thoughts on this, and also to know that you had rubber Vulcan ears. You should have kept them to wear to the CHL on Halloween.