You've got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme... – U2 “Walk On” (1)
We must leave everything to those who follow. Our greatest treasures are the
following generation’s junk. Stuff
they have to clear away. If they
have attachment to something it is because it reminds them of someone who has
passed. They have no
attachment to the thing itself.
If you have ever gone through the stuff of someone who has
passed away, you will probably have wondered why they kept some things, and
then concluded that those things must have been valuable or useful in their
time.
Similarly, if you have ever been in the market for a house,
and started looking at potential properties you will have seen things that make
you wonder what the previous owners were thinking. Home renovations are never in my experience undertaken
lightly, so some thinking went into that floral wallpaper or wood paneling.
But we don’t take this truth about the temporary worth of
goods to heart. We treasure our
shiny, usually slimmer than yesteryear, treasures.
The recent launch of the new iPhone caused thousands to line
up for days to be the first to have what in a few years will be obsolete and in
thirty years – junk. But they were
willing to spend so much time for this ephemeral object, that in years to come
will be perhaps found as a curiosity in an attic, similar to four-track players
I found in my parent’s attic when I was a kid.
It is exciting to have the latest first; to be an early
adopter. Some now cite this as an
achievement. And if you can keep
getting the newest first, perhaps you can keep yourself satisfied. But if you reflect, you will realize that you are paying
a premium to own tomorrow’s junk first.
