So might as well purposefully leave it behind.

Otherwise, toss it in the trash or give it away to charity.

This is slowly becoming my first reaction to the prospect of acquiring new stuff and the examination of old stuff I want to hold on to. The question I keep asking is “Do I really need it?” (This goes for writing too, but that’s another story).

I say it’s becoming slowly because there are still frequent visits from that other reaction that says I want it now! Everytime I buy or think of buying a book I cringe. Since Amazon’s Kindle has come out, I’ve thought about getting one almost weekly. But I don’t have $300 to drop and I have a lot of paper books that I might as well read now. It’s the kind of thing I’m talking about though. Why own all these books in the first place? It’s one thing to say “Well I don’t want to go to the library if I want to read it again.” But when have I ever read a book again? Not very often.

And so too with a lot of paper goods. Writings and cards and article print outs. What am I saving them for? I think it’s genetic. My maternal grandfather has hundreds of boxes of newspaper clippings from the past 60 years. He has never sat to write any of the books he keeps clipping them to aid in writing. And so too it would be with me. Writing can begin from that first article and be supported by later research. Too, writing and research can be done entirely on a computer for most things.

Of course I’m dreadful at writing and reading on a screen, but reenter the Kindle. Surely in a few years they’ll be fully web enabled. Or at least there’ll be a deeper reference edition or subscription that would get one into the Oxford English Dictionary, Periodical Databases, and other resources.

• • •

Here’s another thing: Part of the idea keeping this layout for use as a blog is that I cut out the fluff. All I wanted to communicate here is that I’m back in a jettisoning life mode. I think frequently of Konstantin trekking around the country with only a few possessions. While we’re alive it’s about what we cant get into our heads. And after we’re dead it’s about what our minds produced and left behind in a meaningful way. All else is fluff.