The Hoard

The city came and took away the hoarders treasures today (the outside ones anyway). Is this noteworthy? Not really. But he's worked so hard collecting all his junk. It's really junk too, he mostly collects things from the dumpster behind the thrift store; stuff other people didn't want, donated, and then the thrift store didn't even want it. The animals loved his outside hoard. Often times you'd see squirrels, cats, rabbits, and even very large raccoons running from the hills of stuff. I suspect he was hoarding trash too. Most of the items were packed tightly in plastic bags. It was the most unsightly mess ever, hundreds of plastic bags piled behind his home and next to his garage mixed in with other bigger things that couldn't be bagged.

He doesn't work. He doesn't seem to have a family. He doesn't talk to anyone... wait, that's just my neighborhood in general. He rides his bike around all day collecting things to pack his house with. Stuff is falling out the windows; it's packed! And now a good portion of his collection is gone. The city gave him three notices and the last one told him the date and time they'd be by to remove the unsightly mess if he didn't do it himself. The house is full. The garage is full. There was no place else for him to put it all. But now it's gone.

The fact that all his hard work was just trucked away, I feel badly for him. In fact I'm kind of sad. But I feel bad that he has this need to acquire too. He's ruined his home. But then there are those woman who have to have 20 or 30 or 100 or 500 pairs of shoes, or 40 handbags. They need a coordinating outfit for every single day of the year. And men who spend tens of thousands of dollars collecting cars or whatever; video games, movies, jewelry, there are plenty of things to obsessively collect. I think a good portion of our society looks up to and admires the types of "lucky" individuals who can pursue their every desire and acquire and acquire and acquire. The television sure makes an expensive hoarding lifestyle look like the American dream. Are they any better? Sure they're contributing to the economy and their lives are pretty (not like a hill of garbage packed in plastic bags behind a hoarders house ) but why do they need such excess? Why does the hoarder need such excess? Why do we need so much?

I'm not trying to be a judgmental minimalist freak, doling it out to everyone I can fit in my little rant but sometimes, actually often times the excess we strive for and mostly the need for it makes me really sad.

It's all gone. Just like that all his hard work is for nothing and I guess there's a warrant out for his arrest for failing to show up to a court date about the hoard. (Don't mess up my town folks. They will get you!)