ON MATERIALISM:

Flashback to my time at the University of Arkansas. From our spot in the cafeteria, we watched a co-worker pulling into a parking spot and hit my friend's car. My friend went out to take care of things and I remember thinking "Wow, how awful for her. Someone hit her car." She came back in like nothing was wrong. I asked her if she was mad and she said "It's just a car." I admired the attitude, even if it's something I couldn't quite comprehend.

I've always been attached to my possessions. I look at it like this: I spend time at work. I work for money. I spend money on possessions. Therefore, by the transitive property, time = possessions. It's a flawed system, but it's MY system.

Strangely enough (or not so strangely, based on yesterday's post), what helped me shed a little bit of this materialistic attitude was something in Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman, in which they talk about how ownership doesn't matter if something can't be given away. So I've tried to be less selfish about my possessions, letting people borrow/have things when they need them. It's a start, right?

But for bigger things, like my car, it's difficult. It was such a huge chunk of time - earning the money to GET the car - that I find it hard to let go. But when it's been damaged - the hood has been smooshed, the antenna is ruined, and I think someone keyed the passenger side - I've been pretty okay, adopting my friend's attitude. And this SHOULD be the end of the post.

Flashback to last week. I was wearing a new shirt. (Different) friends thought it would be a glorious idea to spray me with "Silly String" and try to interrupt my run on "Guitar Hero." I wasn't upset about the surprisingly liquid Silly String hitting me in the eye. I wasn't upset about this unprovoked Silly assault at all. But when I did laundry earlier this week I noticed that some pink Silly String residue had settled on the sleeve of my new shirt. All of my efforts to remove this stain failed and I had to get rid of the shirt after having only worn it once. And I was A-N-G-R-Y mad!

It's not like this was an expensive or nice shirt - and the spirit in which it was ruined was one of playfulness - not like the intentional vandalism to my car. So why am I bothered about this at all? Stupid materialism! Going forward, I need to remember that it's just a shirt, and that car, shirt, fake video game guitar - it's all just stuff. Stuff that's replaceable or renewable.

I have no desire for Silly String-related retaliation, though.