Stuff

I used to collect Key Chains; there is a box of my former purchases tucked away under my bed at my parents house, with none of its occupants likely to ever see use. I would buy one at every place I visited, as a token of my visit, or at least that was how it started. Then it evolved, and I began to buy multiple key chains from the same place for no better reason than they were 3 for $5. I most assuredly did not need 7 Las Vegas key chains (including a giant penny, a dice, a plastic strip that said Las Vegas, and a model Elvis Head), but because they were cheap and key chains were what I did, I purchased them. Today, I can tell you I haven't purchased a key chain in over 5 years. Does this make me a recovering Key Chain addict? How about we just label me a recovering materialist addict.

Unable to throw things away, my collection of property grew and grew. My childhood room was like a strange museum of precious treasures, rocks from the Nature Store, replica batting helmets, sports team pennants and of course those key chains. Even today, I struggle to throw things away – evidenced by the 6 pack of Coca-Cola commemorating the Red Sox 2004 World Series Victory sitting in my bedroom at my parents house. Yet by and large I feel I've stemmed the tide, or I had, and things were no longer coming in.

The change from pack-rat to accumulatory nihilist was gradual, starting with my travels in Europe, growing stronger in my domestic roaming, but likely peaked in Shanghai. China, after all, is where cheap stuff comes from. If I was going to accumulate cheap stuff anywhere, it was there. I could have bought a gazillion little Chinese trinkets, lanterns, pictures, tea cups, replica weapons, and just about anything else, but I simply purchased clothing, which has a functionality not inherent in the static display pieces of my youth. The thought of sending all my stuff home wasn't particularly appealing, and my meager salary seemed better spent on food and travel. What good was a 3rd tea mug? Did I really need a Mao action figure? I was shocked to discover that although I'd arrived in the manufacturing capital of the world, I'd weened myself off purchasing.

Back in the US, nothing much changed for the first year, as I had no job or money to shop with. Then suddenly I've become fully employed, at a bank no less. I have disposable cash for the first time in my life. And I see the things beginning to accumulate again. I bought a Wii. I bought a suit jacket. I bought shoes. I bought a new messenger bag (well, actually my parents bought that one... but I eagerly did the shopping). Previously I would contemplate a simple purchase as a new pair of dockers for weeks on end, scouting the coupons and newspaper ads, but now I buy pants on a whim! I feel myself slipping back into childhood Dan. Dan the purchaser of crap. I wish it not to be so, but the hold of the materialistic American lifestyle is strong, and I fear I can't fight it much longer. I'm regressing. There is no way out. We cannot get out. Drums, drums in the deep. They are coming.