The Coming Purge

     A while back, my wife commented that it would be nice to be able to fit her car in the garage.  I asked her the most logical question:

     "Where did you get the idea that garages were meant to hold cars?"

     As usual, with a sense of humor that ranges between Ben Stein and an EKG flatline, she plainly answered "There's too much junk in here."

    I have written many times before about clearing out the clutter in our lives.  Whether it be bad habits, toxic people or "stank" attitudes, we each have the responsibility to cleanse ourselves of that which hinders us.  Yet there is always the coming Purge, or the Sniper, as a former supervisor described it, wherein we will be forced to expel our toxins.

     "Always look out for the Sniper" he would warn, speaking of the one person who can ruin an organization, wreck a plan, or destroy your life.

     For our purposes today, the Sniper also controls the Purge valve, the piece of equipment that will force us to eliminate that which is unnecessary.  On the most basic level, it might literally be the food poisoning that forces us to eliminate the food that we shouldn't have eaten in the first place.  On a larger scale it might be the death of a loved one or even our own demise, either of which will force us to let go of the very essense of life.  In between are all of the other accumulations, foibles and boat anchors easily pocketed or stored in the garages of our mind.

      Personally, I don't like to wait until it "just happens"; I'd rather direct The Purge myself.  The Sniper is within my crosshairs right now; once I dispatch him, I will wrest the Purge valve from his cold, dead hands, and will aim this weapon at myself.  Then I will slowly turn the knob and will ride the torrent that will inevitably rush downstream.

      In other words...I will have to make at least three trips to the junkyard!

      Always B Positive!

The Tomes of Living Folk

The late Loften Mitchell once asked if I had read a particular play of his.  I stammered. But he merely chuckled and said "No!  Your friends and family don't read your stuff until after you're dead!"

My car's trunk is almost full.  Some things will go to Goodwill, others to the public library.  Others will end up at my local used book store.  I hate giving away books, but I have to face the fact that I won't be reading some of these titles.

The classic plays and literature I will keep; but there is no reason to keep some of these obscure sales training books from the 1950s, 60s and 70s (most positive thinking books say the same thing anyway).  I don't think I need these manuals from long-gone appliances.  In addition, I am chucking most of the the "Beware of the Boogieman"  conspiracy books written by Liberals, Conservatives, Christians, Atheists, Environmentalists, Educators, Afrocentrists, Eurocentrists, you name it (I don't discriminate, but I am elimnating most of these titles just the same.  I came to the conclusion long ago, that writing a book on a problem isn't the same as working to solve it.  Talk shows and speeches don't count unless you get your proverbial hands dirty.  Too many philosophers; too few workers).

Then there are the books written by authors with whom I have a personal connection.  I'll keep those. In the near future I will take the plunge and add a reader or tablet to the nerdly arsenal of electronics that I really don't want but need.  I am not an early adopter of anything; I let everybody else deal with the headaches of version 1.0 or 2.0.  But in this case, I will relent.

After all, I am eliminating most of my printed books.  I want to read the new work from my friends, formers students and associates (and I hope they would do the same for me), while we're all still alive.

Always B Positive