Material Things

Recently I witnessed a very disturbing sight. On a Tuesday evening, I was called to the "home" of one of my best friends to be with him as his home burnt. I have never been close to someone who has suffered from a home fire and it was very traumatic not only for him, but for me. To sit there and watch as his home, his belongings, his treasures burned is unlike anything I have ever experienced. When someone loses a loved one, you can always console them, tell them that it will be okay and that they will always live on in memory and that the loved one has gone to a better place. However, with a fire, I found that there was little I could tell my friend other than, "What is your insurance like?" (Pretty impersonal, huh?) Really! That is all that you can really say. Unlike a loved one, of whom death is usually expected at some time or another, a fire that destroys all that you hold dear or precious or valuable in some way, is never expected. If it was, would we continue to buy things and store them all in one place, that in many ways is nothing more than a wooden box waiting to catch fire?

My friend is not a material person, but even he was moved to tears to know that his belongings were gone. I was even surprised to hear him say, "Everything that important to me was in there." And even more saddening was to hear that even though it was not pretty, not big, he was comfortable in his house and he and his girls called it "home."

He will rebuild and it will be "home" again. But what about all that stuff that he accrued over many years. Some of it he had since childhood. How do you replace that. I guess that too will live on in memory like a loved one that has crossed over...

I have a ton of stuff in my home and each and everybit of it means something to me in some way or another. There are some items that I really would not care if they were lost, but some things, like my books, my sword and gun collection, the pictures and childhood items... if they were lost, it would feel like a major part of my life were to be erased! There is no way I could replace them. I would not even try. I almost think that these material items are part of my identity and in some way part of what makes me, me. When people think of a sword or a gun they see or hear about, or a history or fantacy book, they often think of me, or vice versa.

So what is this all about? I don't know. Just that don't covet your material possessions, because they are not nearly as important as your faith, family and friends, but at the same time, life is short so go out and buy something that means something to you. Something that makes you, you. Your possessions are part of what you say about yourself to the rest of the world. And do your best to fireproof your home... (after writing this, I probably shouldn't listen to myself, 'cause I just found a motorcylce that I fell in love with....)