The old and the new.
Cleaning out my room, I began to throw out some old stuff. There were lots of things which were of no use at all - silver necklaces that had become tarnished and rusty, scratched keyrings I no longer used, handkerchiefs. Yet there was a story, a memory behind everything - the necklace a sweet 16 birthday present, the keyring held my school locker key for 6 years, the handkerchief... that I remember well. It was one of the first presents I got after immigrating here, from my 3rd grade friend, as a Christmas present. I didn't even know her that well, but I still remember her smile when she handed it to me and said, Merry Christmas!Whenever I attempt to clean my room, I am always faced with this dilemma. Every single thing in my room brings back a piece of my past. Perhaps my memory is sharper than most, but I can remember everything. And lately I've come to think perhaps that's not such a good thing. At least if my memory were more average, I could bear to throw more things out, as I would have forgotten the meaning to these now-redundant objects.
Sentimentality. There's something about it that just compells me to keep things. To remember the past that God's blessed me with. Whenever I pick up the piece of junk, all rusty/broken/dirty, my instantaneous reaction is to smile at it as the memory comes back. Then logic cries, "But you'll never use this again and it's just taking up space! Don't you want a nice neat room?" Then comes the hard part.... I have often thrown something out, only to fish it out of the bin again, only to throw it out again a few years later when I've finally mustered the courage to let go.
Perhaps I've allowed myself to indulge in nostalgia too much - the more I keep these old things, the less I have room to make for new things to come. This revelation being applicable to me in more ways than one...
posted by me. @ 10:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home