Stuff and things we need for next year

It’s within the last decade that, around this time of year, I’ve hearkened back to the words of George Carlin.

The comedian of 7-Dirty-Words infamy had a bit about stuff. And the collection of stuff. And the storing of stuff. And about Americans’ collective obsession with stuff. The musings seem appropriate to recall, reflect upon and slightly distort or embellish in the days following Christmas.

The words are especially relevant at the end of the year because we’ve often treated the changing of the calendar as an opportunity for a new beginning.

In January we toss out the old and welcome the new, but we’ve just spent the entire preceding month buying and wrapping things and stuff that we want to bring with us. Or that we want others to carry with them. We may want to leave our baggage behind but darn it if we don’t need new luggage to carry it through the airport.

Often times we believe the things that we carry have great value — because of the money we spend and the time spent selecting them —but two or three years later do we still have the trinkets and baubles that were bestowed and presented? Where are the smartphones and laptops and jackets and necklaces that were must-haves at the time?

Were they lost? Returned? Set aside and forgotten? Or maybe they were given away or tossed in the trash in anticipation of making more room for more things we think give meaning to life.

Of course you could try to divorce yourself from the frenzy of buying, collecting and giving. But if you do manage to stay away from the malls and boutiques and spending beyond your means, then you’ll be subtlety reminded that without you, our country’s economic system will collapse and go poof.

We have Gray Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday to really focus ourselves on spending and buying more things for each other (sure there is Giving Tuesday, where charitable donations are solicited, but that comes at the end of the cycle when you have no money left to give).

The retailers and news shows and articles we read convince us that the end of the year frenzy is make or break time for the motherland’s economy so, if we love America, and our significant others and siblings and children and friends, we’ll get out there and buy.

We’ll buy more things and stuff and we’ll package it up and give it away (which is a good thing because we’ll be receiving lots of things and stuff in return so we don’t need other people’s stuff, which to us is junk, cluttering up our closets and living rooms) so that people will know how much we care about them.

So in these days after Christmas take a moment to reflect on all the presents around you. The things we received may not be the things that we asked for. But are they the things we deserve?