Like many others, death has touched my life this year.
First came a terrible tragedy where a 13-year-old that we knew lost his life in an accident. Then an old friend’s father died. My family and I have grieved these losses and shown support to their families as we’ve been able.
If you’re a fan of one of the most popular sitcoms ever or one of the founding bands of the metal genre, you’ve been grieving lately, too.
Every year, I become more aware of mortality, both mine and others’. News of deaths both close to me and those of celebrities remind me, but the slowly increasing needs and limitations of my body do the same. I don’t dwell on this truth, but I do think about it.
Part of this awareness has brought for me a decreased felt need to accumulate things. I have my vices, like books and records, but even then I know that I can’t take them with me. That helps temper the intensity of my desire to buy them.
It’s part of why I’m so amazed that the richest people in the world seem so dissatisfied. They seem to still be governed by a need to accumulate even more despite already being incapable of spending all that they have. Maybe it’s a desperate flailing against the fact that none of this will save them. Or maybe they’re doing their best to ignore or numb themselves from thinking about it too much.
And yet at the end, we leave our purchases at the door. I realized a while ago that it’s better to collect experiences than physical things, anyway.
Jeffrey A. Nelson 