things (pl. n.) — an object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to; personal belongings or clothing; an inanimate material object as distinct from a living sentient being.
The word “things” is a word that I was given particular license not to use in my English class back in my high school days. It was too much of a throwaway word or a filler which, as I learned, would not allow me to fully use descriptors over the course of what I was writing.
More recently, the term “things” is more widely used in terms of possessions. A few days ago in a social media post, I came across a word picture, which I’ll describe here.
- When you’re young, you wish for things.
- When you’re an adult, you acquire things.
- When you’re older, you get rid of things.
I guess I’m glad our family does a round-robin gift exchange where everyone gives and everyone gets a single present of a certain predetermined value. This way, none of us in our group is running around town looking in multiple shops for The Perfect Gift for everyone.
And this, especially, for children and toys. I remember hearing the conversation in a schoolroom where a parent was talking about an $80.00 toy from an animated series, and whether that one toy would have a lasting impact in terms of his play, or whether the child would get bored of that toy the same day.
And by the next day, it would go into the toybox with the rest of gifts from Christmases past. More “things.”
A friend of mine on social media, a newly-wedded woman from the Carolinas, made note the other day that an entire section of her small town is now devoted to businesses who rent storage space. These businesses fill a need for people who need this kind of space because of the aggregation of — you guessed it — things.
For me, this post-COVID era has become an era of overconsumption, where people are buying more things that they need, and have need for the extra storage space. Too, you’re seeing the extremes of this on polarized reality series covering the disposition of possessions in storage units, and series showing what happens when people don’t use storage and become “hoarders.”
In other words, having too many things.
Sobering, isn’t it?