No, this isn't about our size -though they do relate.
Lately as I drive around the area I can't stand the amount of storage units being built. I recently had a short conversation about it with someone. There is the argument is that with all the people moving into the area people need to a place to store things in transition. Well, yes. That is a great reason. I used a storage unit throughout my college career. In the summer months that I wasn't living on campus, I needed a place to store my things when I would drive 14 hours back home. But there's something to all of this - people are using it to store their beloved items for just a time or season. If it were just a season of holding our items, why are we building so many storage units? How is it that we continue to need more storage units? How is the storage unit business so successful? Well, too many people have too many things. Plain and simple. We have so many things in our possession and we are incapable of releasing our hold on them so we are purchasing spaces to hold our things that we just can't fit into our own living spaces. Does that seem a little excessive to you or just me? It seems that it's just the way of our culture. Our nation went through the Depression and created a generation that learned to never get rid of anything. Waste not, want not. I know that my grandmother lived in a world where you treasured everything, and never got rid of anything. Don't get me wrong, I am not a wasteful person, but there are other options than just hoarding everything away. I love my grandmother. And she has held on to things that I will one day own. She has held on to things that she uses on a daily basis. The woman has more kitchen chairs than I know what to do with! She has also held on to things that have lived in her garage for almost 6 years. 6 years!! Some of you might be thinking, "Who cares? It isn't in your house so what does it matter to you?" Well, it matters to me because she's my grandmother, but also because it runs this country. We have extra, so we hold onto it. We just keep adding and adding. We've done it with our food. What is an actual serving size? Usually half of what is placed in front of you at a restaurant. My house is full of things that aren't being used. We do a yard sale twice a year and stock pile it all until those days only to hope to sell it all and make some extra cash. It all comes back to a heart issue. We have become a nation of greed. We want, want, want. We get. We keep. We want more. When is all this stuff enough? When do we stop and realize that things in our home, extra food on our plate, boxes of goods in a storage unit won't fulfill that longing within us? I walk through my homes and pick up random things that we haven't used, books that go unread, whatever else I can find, and put them all in boxes. If the owner of the item has not realized it is gone within 3 months, it stays in the box until yard sale day, or a give away. That leads me down a tangent, and I apologize in advance. When we try to do something good - like give away toys to kids who don't have - we are told they must be new in box. Really? It just continues the greed. I don't know if the kids would or wouldn't be offended, but seriously? Kids don't have toys. We have too many. We can't give them our excess because it isn't new in box? I understand you don't want to give away junk, but there has to be a better way. This is our country of excess. Millions have nothing. Millions live in poverty, not just next door, but across the sea. We take, and buy, and live a life filled with extras. This isn't what the world needs. I know in my home we will do our best to continue to live with less. I refuse to get an extra holding cell for the things that I don't use anymore. Heck, maybe someone not too picky will want my excess, whether it is new in box or not.
1 Comment
Nana
11/9/2017 03:59:38 pm
I have never thought about the increase in the number of storage units popping up and why they're there. You are absolutely right about excess and holding on to things. Things we probably forget we have before too long. And your point about poverty and toys being new in boxes are spot on and well taken. Thought provoking entry.
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