A friend of mine recently got divorced. She bought an Apple iphone. We met for dinner and she showed it to me. She seemed happy. She could point her finger at a name or number in her address book and not have to dial.
A few days later she called me in tears. She left it in a taxi. 'Where are you calling from'? I asked. It was a sensible question. She was calling from her land line at home. I felt good knowing she knew my number by heart.
But she was upset. Losing her iphone was worse than her divorce.
She could rebuild her life without her husband. But rebuilding her life without her address book? That was unbearable.
When someone has lost something by accident, there will always be someone who points out it's their own fault. What good does that do? When I thought I lost my computer, a man standing on the immigration line said, 'If it mattered that much to you, you would have taken better care of it.'
Why was he saying this? Scolding me. He wasn't my father. I have difficulty with these people. I try to block them out but I can't. I looked at him and said, 'You must be perfect. You must never make a mistake. That must be nice. But don't lecture me.'
He didn't know what to say after that.
If there was a fire and I lost all my stuff, I wouldn't care. I would start over. I can't think of anything I would miss that I couldn't replace. What difference does it make holding on to photographs? I have a memory.
When you think about it, aside from a human being or an animal, what is there really worth saving?