COLLECTING STUFF & GHOSTSWith the years, we inevitably collect more stuff. But also more ghosts. The stuff half was brilliantly codified by comedian G

With the years, we inevitably collect more stuff. But also more ghosts. The stuff half was brilliantly codified by comedian George Carlin; the ghost half just comes along by itself. Here's how....

STUFF

Everyone has tales to tell about finding boxes of stuff collecting dust and disinterest somewhere in the garages and basements of our lives. Old shoes...postcards...newspaper clippings...some invoices...a few photos...and little metallic things we can't for the life of us imagine what you do with.

As Carlin wisely points out, stuff just sorta accumulates over the years. Whether we're trying or not. Lately, slick retailers have decided that folks over 60 don't buy anymore stuff, so why bother trying to reach them anymore. That's why advertising, movies and television are aimed mostly at the young.

A point of correction here. What Carlin and the retailers forget is this. It's not that older folks don't need more stuff. It's mainly because at this stage of the game, we simply don't want more! You see. kids, it's really true: "You can't take it with you...!"

GHOSTS

In contrast to stuff, ghosts are a more arguable subject. But this is not meant to be a theological consideration. Just an everyday, tug-at-your-heart consideration. With the years, ghosts simply happen...!

All those people we've loved (and not) have this way of hanging around our heart. When important people in our lives die, their memories often choose to live on with us. Moms, dads, grandparents, uncles, aunts, school chums, first loves, first bosses, first sergeants, first-and-last of all sorts. So long as our brain circuits still arc together, these ghosts will still persist.

There is the saying that our eternity exists in the memories of all those who live after us. How the truth to this slams home whenever you come upon a street corner where you can recall a fateful goodbye...a house now occupied by strangers in which you know the ghosts of your family still walk....stores and schools, theatres and beaches, streetlights and cafes where you can still catch a wisp of all those beautiful people with whom you once shared this sacred space.

Ghosts -- all around us all the time. All they need is our permission to let them inside this tiny shard of time. But unlike our stuff, usually our ghosts are well worth collecting. And keeping...