Do The Things You Own, End Up Owning You?

Hannah often asks me, “What are you thinking?” The answer to that question is never the same. Sometimes I have these complex, epiphany like thoughts that I just don’t know how to explain. Other times my brain is just void of thought like ref at a baseball game.

Out of know where last week I thought of a quote from the movie Fight Club: The Things you own, end up owning you.

I can’t help but think “Is this a true statement anymore?”

In this day an age where you can download movies and music with a mouse click. Where cell phones and laptop computers are considered disposable devices. Where files and documents are being backed up in multiple locations. Do we really worry about losing anything? It’s really a complex thought that can be looked at on so many levels.

Lets say my apartment catches on fire. I lose my computer and with it all my saved worked and documents for anything personal. I keep my birth certificate in a fireproof safe since their is a 3 year waiting list on safety deposit boxes at the bank. I lose all my DVD’s, Cell phones, Video game, game consoles, and cloths.

It’s fair to say that in this theoretical fire, that the only thing I lost of any real personal value would have been my computer with all my personal documents, pictures, bank statements, work related files, etc. That is irreplaceable data would be devastating to me. In that sense I understand the whole “The things you own end up owning you” quote. But the reality for me is that I keep an off-site backup that is never more then a month old of all my computer files. So should a fire ravage through my apartment, I would go out and get a replacement computer and be alright. DVD’s are replaceable. Video games are replaceable. Pretty much everything that would get burned is replaceable. I say that easily because I do have renters insurance that protects me against possible fires or theft.

So I guess my point is; If you live life like me, with the safe guards I have setup, do you really feel like your positions are owning you any more? I can’t help but say “No”. I don’t feel like I have a threat of losing anything permanently that I own. I don’t cling to things like I will never be lucky enough to own them again.

That’s just must my 1AM thought for the day.