The Squirrel Stage

 

The difference between a hoarder and a collector is geography. A collector is revered by society as a noble calling of someone who is studious and organized, plodding along in a determined fashion to acquire objects that society, in its busy pursuits, does not yet realize the value of, but which they will covet and be drawn to in the future, wishing that they had in fact saved these objects for themselves to remember this earlier, simpler time. Such pursuits are more feasible in rural settings where storage space is more plentiful. The same collection attempted in an urban dwelling would most likely be cramped and disorganized leading to the negative label of hoarder. The Smithsonian Museums are a grand collection of the nations past and considered a national treasure.

 The collection of lead soldiers whose ranks were swelled on pay day when my father would stop at the five and dime and recruit these willing warriors for .25 each, to march across my bedroom floor in their attempt to lay siege on the plastic army protected behind the secure walls of a hastily constructed wood block fort, are now packed in a wooden box, of my construction, at ease, in remembrance of that time spent playing with my father. I would not wish to throw those soldiers away.

 Old family photos, a favorite book from childhood and objects of the like, are part of the fabric of who we are and to cast everything away is to discard our past. Not everyone has the best memory and physical objects can act as a visual aid in retrieving memories for those with this condition.

 

The most famous hoarders in local history were the Collyer Brothers, who were eventually found dead in their mansion on March 21,1947 in their dwellings at 2078 128^th street in Harlem N.Y.C. The brothers were surrounded by the 140 tons of their collection. Having let the building fall into severe disrepair the mansion was torn down as a hazard soon after the contents were disposed of.

 

Somewhere between the extremes of the Collyer brothers and the sterile, empty severe dwellings of a minimalist’s abode is a happy medium where the past can be honored and remembered in a neat organized fashion.

 

Jim

May 2021