"Life is lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back through the valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale.” Jill Savage

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Things That We Love Tell Us What We Are . . .


I go through definite period of life when I am a saver and then I changed into someone who throws things away. I am never a hoarder. I always have a tendency to throw away rather than to save - and I like things orderly - with a lot of junk is hard to do. It is also hard to do living with 3 savers.
We were going to downsize once threw stuff away and had a garage sale - didn't move and then wished we had not throw and sold things and actually had to re-buy - like squirrel traps!
I am going through a saver period now. I'm trying to think what psychological phenomenon one is in when you are a saver. And what you're feeling when you throw things away - like what is going on in that mind of mine.
I do know of one true hoarder - it is a disease - and not a pretty one.


Second Question (from a 9th grade teacher to his students) -

Would you accept a guarantee lifetime allowance of $50,000 per year (adjusted annually for inflation) if accepting it meant that you could never again earn money from either work or investments?

Hmmm - that is a hard one. Or is it. Let's see - I am on call 24/7. I work 16 hours a day. My salary is $00.00. Why not I ask myself. No so for a young family or a young man who is just starting out. I could do some good things with 50K.


"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." ~ Audre Lorde (Happy Birthday)

And happy birthday (Wikipedia) to Yoko Ono - was born to mother Isoko Ono, the granddaughter of Zenjiro Yasuda of the Yasuda banking family, and to father Eisuke Ono who was a descendant of an Emperor of Japan.

Two weeks before she was born, her father was transferred to San Francisco. In 1937, her father was transferred back to Japan and Ono was enrolled at Tokyo's Gakushuin, one of the most exclusive schools in Japan, which, before World War II, was open only to the Japanese imperial family and aristocrats of the House of Peers.

In 1940, the family moved to New York City, where Ono's father was working. In 1941, her father was transferred to Hanoi and the family returned to Japan. Ono was then enrolled in an exclusive Christian primary school run by the Mitsui family. She remained in Tokyo through the great fire-bombing of March 9, 1945. During the fire-bombing, she was sheltered with other members of her family in a special bunker in the Azabu district of Tokyo, far from the heavy bombing. After the bombing, Ono went to the Karuizawa mountain resort with members of her family.

Ono has said that she and her family were forced to beg for food while pulling their belongings in a wheelbarrow; and it was during this period in her life that Ono says she developed her "aggressive" attitude and understanding of "outsider" status when children taunted her and her brother, who were once well-to-do. Other stories have her mother bringing a large amount of property with them to the countryside which they bartered for food.

One often quoted story has her mother bartering a German-made sewing machine for sixty kilograms of rice with which to feed the family. Her father remained in the city and, unbeknownst to them, was eventually incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in China. In an interview by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman on October 16, 2007, Ono said of her father "He was in French Indochina which is Vietnam actually... in Saigon. He was in a concentration camp."

She has a long bio and it has such interesting facts and info. I have only thought of her as the weird wife of John Lennon. She actually had a lot of struggles in her life.

I think one thing I have learned through looking up these people - I should never judge - and there are two sides to every story.
Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom. - Merry Browne

Maybe I wouldn't have chosen the same path, but it all comes down to choice and free will.

10 comments:

{Bellamere Cottage} said...

Yep, definitely in the SAVER category......I just never know when I might need it. I'm married to a minimalist kind of guy.....Whew......he sure tolerates a lot! :-) the car will NEVER fit into the garage. YIKES!

Have a wonderful day.....

Huggies,
Spencer

Stella said...

I find I tend to get rid of things when my life is not going smoothly. I think perhaps if I can't tidy up other areas of my life I do have control over the clutter in my home.

betty said...

interesting question; right now no to the $50,000 because I don't think I could live on it with our present responsibilities but if I downsized and got debt free then it would definitely be a possibility.

I'm not a saver but hubby is. His parents are too and he thinks it was because they lived in the depression when things were scarce and sometimes hard to get so they are afraid to let anything go in fear they might need to use it eventually

betty

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Well you can tell by my 'collections' I am a saver! Always have been always will be...not a hoarder, I do like things organized..doesn't mean they are but I keep trying.

Joyce said...

Interesting info about Ono. I had no idea. Live and learn!
Joyce

Tweedles -- that's me said...

I save all my toys. Sometimes I hear people say I should get rid of some of them. I say they are my toys, and they need to go get rid of their own stuff.
I like the saying "what is one persons treasures is another persons garbage" and it can be reversed too.
I like to keep my stuff because of sentimental reasons,
love
tweedles

Angela said...

Hey Sandie!

I am such a sentimental old fool that it is sometimes hard for me to get rid of things. But there are times that I get really mad and frustrated that I will take bags of things to the Salvation Army or Good Will. We have way too much at our house right now. Partly because it is hard for me to get rid of the children's toys. They are in very good shape and I don't want to give them away! I want to save them for future grand children because the quality of toys has really went down hill in the past 10 years! Papers are the worst for me. I want them to see their art work and their handwriting from when they were children. I don't know why but I do. I have taken pictures of some art work and I have also scanned in some of my daughter's things.

Now, I'm not that bad because I can park my truck in the garage! I do have dishes saved for the kids for when they get older and move out they can take them with them. They are made in the USA! lol

Hugs,
Angela

jeanmac said...

Sandie, I am def. a hoarder but trying to give away.

Together We Save said...

I like stuff... well my kids stuff anyway, pictures they had drawn, report cards, old cards and valentines. I have lots of boxes of stuff.

I have something for you. Please stop by and pick it up.

Cheryl Moore said...

Wow, Sandie, you gave us a LOT of food for thought on this one! Whew! Well, I probably side more with the hoarders to a point. When I start feeling suffocated with all the "stuff" around me then I start throwing stuff away. My mentality during each of these periods?--When I'm saving (or accumulating) "stuff", my mentality is probably fullfilling an emptiness inside myself. It's probably: "gather now while it's available so I'll have during the lean times". When I gather so much that I feel overwelmed and suffocated, it's probably just that--"I have TOO much stuff and I have to clear some space!" But you know what just went through my mind? My thought was: "We have to give in order to receive"... something along those lines. :)

And the interesting story about John Lennon's wife...wow, that was very interesting! Thank you!

And then the 3rd thing about would I accept $50k guaranteed a year? You bet your bottom dollar, I would since I don't make that much a year! And if my husband could also be guaranteed $50k/yr, too--whow who! We'd be in high heaven!! lol :)