Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Evil, Thy Name Is Packing!

Whew. I'm bushed. I've spent the past two days doing nothing but getting ready for college, it seems. So far I've been to the bike shop (to get new tires for a rusty bicycle that I haven't ridden since seventh grade,) the eye doctor (who took my glasses to have them fixed, with the chance that they won't be ready by move-in day, in which case I won't be able to drive my car until mom and dad mail the glasses to me,) and the dentist (turns out my wisdom teeth are coming in... Crooked! Oh joy.)

And then there's the packing. Mom and I started Monday by literally cleaning out my closet. Technically it's a walk-in closet, but it was impossible to walk in it. Gosh there was so much stuff in there: Broken toys, clothes that were musty and way too small, clothes that weren't musty or too small but had been forgotten anyway and some stuff that can only be described as junk. Eventually we cleaned it out... And destroyed my room in the process (which is why, at this moment, my closet is clean, my room looks like WWII just occurred inside and I'm hunched over on the bed in the guest room, typing away on my laptop before turning in for the night.) It was all worth it, though. My clothes have all been packed up and are ready to take down to Wilmington.

The experience, however, got me thinking about how wasteful we are. There are plenty of people who would've been overjoyed to have all those clothes, all those broken toys, all that "junk." I feel guilty for having had it all stored up for so long, when it could've been given to a charity such as Goodwill. That's why there is currently a bag --marked "Goodwill"-- that contains all of the wearable but unwanted clothes that we found in the closet.

This also got me thinking about how miniscule my other problems are. Sure my teeth needed work, but at least my family could afford it and I had access to a great dentist who could do it. Sure my glasses might be late getting fixed, and sure that meant I won't be able to drive my car for a week, but some people can't afford a car, or even glasses.

Now I'm not saying that this kind of thinking is healthy all the time. After all, think of the situations. "Darn, I got mud on my shoes." "So? Some people can't even afford shoes!" Still, when you find yourself in an endless state of stress (and it seems packing definitely puts me in one of those states,) then it's a good idea to take a step back and put it all in perspective. Oh well, I'm tired. Goodnight everyone! God bless.

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