我的东西

Of all my possessions, very few would catch the eye of any potential thief. Most are monetarily virtually worthless. So, theoretically I shouldn't be terribly distressed if something happens to my material possessions...

Thursday evening before our much-anticipated trip to Colorado, I was at Target with Sammie and somehow managed to lose my car keys in the store. We searched for half an hour and eventually resigned ourselves to the knowledge that we were stranded, and ashamedly called my mom to have her rescue us. I wasn't remotely upset about the episode, knowing at the most it would cost me 2 hours and 5 dollars worth of headache. In the long-run, it wasn't a terrible setback.

Unfortunately that event seemed to set a minor precedent for the rest of the week. After a few blissful days in cathartic scenery with old friends, we set off for our first family outing. Sammie and I had high ambitions of climbing at least a few 14ers, if not the full 5 we set as a goal. Mount Princeton was the first objective inviting us into his lair. We camped along the folds of an eternal stream in the only mildly steep site we found that didn't threaten to eject us from the side of the mountain. Early the next morning we set out in pursuit of his elusive peak. Many excruciating hours, and a hail storm later we finally descended to the previous night's haven only to discover that all was not well in our camp. A bear had visited these trespasser's belongings sometime during the day, and destroyed several vital tools, while mysteriously leaving some intact. He ripped my pack to shreds, chewed my Bible beyond use, and wreaked havoc on tents, sleeping bags, etc.

A few more decent days passed, allowing us to laugh about the damage done by our bear friend, when catastrophe struck again. After spending the night with a cousin in Aurora, we packed our bag and hauled it outside to be loaded in the car. Went back inside to get the keys. Came back outside to a street, a vehicle, and no bag. Somebody who thinks they are getting a good steal is going to be kicking themselves when they realize that all they have is a junk bag full of dirty, nasty laundry, and toothbrushes and other utterly valueless yet necessary items. So Sammie and I had to go to Walmart in the middle of the night to try to find something besides a T-shirt and running shorts (literally the only thing I had left) to wear to our friend's wedding the next morning. I managed to get a skirt that wasn't quite falling off of me, and wore my chacos to the wedding.

Though I left with two full bags I returned home with almost nothing. I doubt seriously that anybody benefited more than a dollar for all the stuff they got, yet it was almost irreplaceable items for me. My Bible with all my notes--and bear slobber-- was among the missing, along with lots of other valueless yet special things. On the bright side my copy of 1984 now has teeth marks in it.

Renunciation of objects, without the renunciation of desires, is short-lived, however hard you may try.

-Nishkulunand