OUR "STUFF"

"THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US;
LATE AND SOON, GETTING AND
SPENDING WE LAY WASTE OUR POWER."
                -----William Wordsworth

Little folks arrive here on this planet

    with absolutely no stuff.

People who love them in their

    infancy and helplessness,

          awed by their cuteness,

help them along by

    providing them

         stuff....

like Pampers and Pablum

     Gerber's and pacifiers

          and little pajamas

               with feet, called

                     "onesies."

          and little cribs to sleep in,

                        cozily.

At age six we visit  Woolworth's

    and see stuff that

         we want

      and at school,

          stuff the other 

         kids have...

It's the beginning of our life-long

    desire and drive

          to acquire

             "stuff!"

And it's not just that we

    want it---it's that

        we need it...

like it always is in life...

    we must have it!

        (We think)

             

                 As a boy...

I needed a football, a ball glove...

    and al least one baseball

        not wrapped in black

             friction tape.

I needed a little pair of lace-up

         hunting boots...with

         the cool knife pouch

           on the right boot!

I needed some "Dave Dawson

    In the R.A.F." books---

         some model airplanes:

         P-40's, P-38's, and

              the new P-51.

I needed some new skates

    so I could skate by

  Priscilla Lane's house,

       the movie star,

              who lived

          four doors

             north!

One learns at an early age,

    To get stuff, you must

          have a "cash flow..."

flowing toward you....

    a major thing

     you find out

          in life.

I'd push my push-mower all

    over the neighborhood

         hoping to mow

              a lawn

and earn a Walking Liberty

    half dollar! My reader---

         did you also keep

             your eyes open

                  for jobs...

       ...when you were a kid?

        

As we get older, and have families

         our need for stuff only

         increases! We have to

             work all the time.

We have learned: nothing is free.

    "There is no free lunch."

         No work---no stuff!

The comedian joked about it:

    He said: "You have to have

         a house with a roof---

              just to cover

               your stuff!"

One wonders---about Thoreau

    at Walden Pond...and

         Whitman, the poet,

          and Edward Abbey...

           did they have much

                     stuff?

As one gets older, he begins to

    think: what would it be like

         not to have any stuff?

Maybe for a man: couple pair of

    Levi pants....two shirts...

        a denim jacket, with an

           old blanket lining---

             a big pile of books,

                your leather notebook,

              your Churchill pen

                 and your iPad?

                Would you miss

                       your "stuff?"

     There is a character in literature---

       Jack Reacher---who has no stuff!

          No home, no car, no payments,

           No insurance, no bills, 

           No bank account, no fridge,

            No washer and dryer; he

              has no credit card, no

            change of clothes...

                 and no suitcase!

    He changes his clothes every three days---

         Buys new ones at surplus stores,

           Tosses the dirty ones...into the

                 nearest trash bin...lives

                   in cheap motels, and

                    has only one bit of

                         "luggage..."

                       a toothbrush.

Can we assume: The more stuff we

     acquire, the happier we'll be?

Where does all the stuff on earth come

    from? "Oh, from China," you say.

         No...isn't it from out of the

                 Earth, itself?

At the beginning of 2014 may be a good

    time to inventory our stuff and

          see what new stuff

                     we need...

              or maybe give away some...

                    

and to think of values which may be

    more important, like Love,

         Duty, Service, Charity,

             Unselfishness,

              and Sacrifice, 

                    

*******30*******

BY MIL

01/03/14