The Wannabe

Ask my wife what the one family trait I’ve held onto is and she’ll probably tell you that I’m a hoarder.  I keep nearly everything that I acquire.  Our counter top is littered with junk mail that I would like to open but haven’t gotten around to, yet am too afraid to throw away, “just in case.”  Our closet in the office is stuffed with plastic bins that are filled with wires, adapters, and computer components that I save, “just in case.”  Our garage is typically consumed with plastic bags that contain papers, pens, and other things I’ve pulled out of the car and, instead of throwing them away, decided I should keep them, “just in case.”

It’s becoming easier for me to control this at home.  It’s easy for me to look around, see that the ratio of stuff to space is getting smaller, and start throwing things away.  However, when it comes to digital storage, the problem is just as prevalent, yet because it’s harder to physically see how much space a file is taking up, it’s much more difficult to control.  I have pictures so blurry that the subject, if there even was one, is indistinguishable.  I have MP3’s I dowloaded, from back in my days as a pirate, of songs that I haven’t listened to in years, and probably will never listen to again.  But the worst problem for me is my contact list.

Any time I speak to someone on the phone more than once, I make a contact.  You never know when you’ll need to talk to that person again, right?  Well the problem now is that I have contacts that I’m certain I will never speak to again, yet I just can’t bring myself to delete.  After all, a contact uses so little space that I could store hundreds of them without even putting a dent in my storage space.  But more importantly I can’t shake the vision that the moment I delete them I’ll need to call them because I’ll find something that belongs to them and need to return it, or I’ll be arrested for something I didn’t do and need an alibi for where I was January 19th, 2004, or aliens will invade and I won’t be able to contact enough people to organize an effective resistance movement.  I know it sounds crazy, but what if it happens?  What if I purge my contacts down to the 15-20 people I talk to on a regular basis and then the unthinkable happens?  Is it worth having a neat and tidy contact list if it means that when the world is in jeopardy I’ll be powerless to stop it?! 

I say no!  Hitting Delete just isn’t worth it!  I won’t do it and you can’t make me!!!