The Addiction of Things

In today's blog, I want to again discuss our human obsession with things.  I have commented in the past on the common problem of, "hording," brought to mind again by recent news articles of people whose obsession with things had gotten totally out of hand.

In olden times, and for most of human existence, the majority of humans were restricted by the usefulness, portability, and longevity of what they had.  In modern times it is appears to be mostly controlled by income or net worth.

In thinking more on this, however, it seems to be more than just an ability to acquire stuff, but more closely related to addiction.  It matters not, it seems, what level of income one has reached, for one to become obsessed.  A recent local news article told the story of a man whose obsession took the form of collecting old and broken things to the point his home was absolutely full of his horde of stuff.  Other stories have told of a very wealthy person who has a warehouse of rare and expensive cars.  (This is not just one individual, there are many who collect cars.)

In the first example, this individuals problem was discovered by a friend, when he was not allowed to go home from the hospital where he had been admitted because of a fall.  The man had earlier been befriended by a lady who discovered his addiction when he was about to be released, but could not go home because it was full of old and discarded stuff which was in a state of mouldering.

This man was fortunate to have such a friend, although he died not long after being settled in his newly refurbished home.  There are regular stories in the paper about people who have literally died as a result of this stuff falling on them, with no one there to help.

The main indicator of how widespread this phenomenon is are the number of self-storage businesses, in this Country, seemingly anywhere and everywhere.  If you need to rent one for a time, you are likely to find, as have I, that most of them are filled up by other peoples belongings.  Those who watch the television program Storage Wars, are allowed to view the contents of some of these units by what is exposed when they are opened up by the winning bidder.

Further evidence of the widespread excess of the stuff we have is the avalanche of, especially, clothes that descend on those who ask for donations during major natural disasters.  I have seen news pictures of appalling piles of  unsorted garments resulting from such appeals.  Second Hand Stores and Rummage Sales are further evidence of the excess of clothing as well as other items which some of us have replaced, or no longer want. 

Another appalling aspect of this phenomenon is that of hording animals, usually dogs or cats, sometimes other exotic species, by people, who are unable to care for them, and the hording and cruelty is only ended when they are forced to give up those animals.

There are few people who do not have an excess of things, including myself.  I expect most of us do not want to consider ourselves to be hoarders.  When looking at this collecting honestly, I have to conclude that it is a major form of addiction. 

In the past, and currently, the most common forms of this addiction by, especially, women was called, "collecting," and contained somewhat by the type of thing collected, such as salt and pepper shakers, tea cups, paper weights, letter openers, etc.  (This activity is not only carried on by women, however, men also collect certain things as well.)   For some, such collecting becomes an obsession.

For other women, such activities took the form of hobbies, such as quilting, knitting, tatting, crocheting, etc.  For men it was usually, model airplane building, wood-working, carving, and car tinkering, etc. 

I have believed for some time, however, that in earlier times, (prior to the sixties), when women's lives were much more limited, such activities helped to keep women sane, and, "in their place."  But I think this was true for both women and men, in the case of men, keeping them from exploding in unacceptable ways. 

It may actually be that the more modern activity of such wide-spread collecting and hording activities are an indication of  the general lack of mental stability in this country.  If looked at in this light, the positive side to this is that the current phenomenon of hording may be serving to keep many individuals somewhat mentally stable.  (In other words, a safer outlet than resorting to that other American addiction: gun ownership.  A topic for another time.)

And so, on that depressing note, I end this blog.

Shirley Gallup