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Thursday, November 24, 2005 |
Precious things
Another Thanksgiving has passed and I'm sitting here at the end of the
day reflecting on a few things. Mostly I've been reflecting on
thanksgiving and gratitude. Certainly I have much to be thankful for.
Now I find myself thinking back to a dream I had last summer.
It was a bright, beautiful summer day. I'd just purchased a big new
house and was walking through it. This house covered an entire city
block. There were many windows. I was very excited. Over the course of
a few days I explored every room and all around the grounds. After a
while I discovered a broken window, then another, and then a few more.
I started to realize just how difficult it was going to be to maintain
this giant residence. Then I began to worry about safety. How was I
going to make sure that every door and window was locked at all times.
Security was going to be a problem.
Just as that was sinking in, I started to think about the cost of
electricity and heating, along with air conditioning in the summer.
This was going to be a major pain. To top it off, I took a good look at
the beautiful grounds. The whole property was covered by big trees,
thick green lawns and amazing flower gardens. Who was going to take
care of all this.
I was glad to wake up and realize that it was only just a dream. And
although this was a very wonderful place to live, I was grateful that
it wasn't mine.
I've thought about the dream several times over that past few months. What does it mean?
I think it means that, along with being grateful for what I have, I'm
also grateful for what I don't have. Here, let me put it another way.
One of my favorite music albums is Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan. I've
owned it on vinyl, cassette and compact disc. It is part of my Steely
Dan box set. I bought the cassette at Oddessy Records in Las Vegas. I
was on my way to Arizona, an adventurous road trip to see my Grandpa
Stewart.
At the time I didn't have many cassette tapes. Pretzel Logic may have
been the only music with me at the time. I played that album over and
over again. I can play any song from Pretzel Logic and immediately I'm
back in Arizona, crossing the desert, on my way to visit my Grandpa.
Now I have all of my music on an iPod. It's great. Everywhere I travel
I have hundreds of hours of listening at my finger tips. And I listen a
great deal. But I'm not sure that it is a special as having one album
out in the middle of Arizona.
And that's not the only example. At one point the MLB game of the week
was something that I would not miss. I planned my week around this
Saturday afternoon baseball game. It was the only time I could see
major league baseball without traveling far away to catch a game in
person.
Now it's possible to subscribe to a service that features hundreds of
games during a season. And yet, I can't remember the last time I sat
down and watched an entire game. Why?
There is something special about scarcity. Something cool about not
having everything available all of the time. So, among all the things
I'm thankful for, perhaps I'm the most thankful for the things I don't
have, or maybe for the things that I have in limited quantity. It's
limited access that makes them special.
And while I don't think I will be giving up my iPod any time soon,
doing without certain things really isn't a problem. It helps me
appreciate what I have and that most of it I take for
granted............
10:21:03 PM 
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© 2005 Jim Stewart
Last Update: 12/14/05; 10:59:05 AM
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