From 23c8f77a092b5441cea5c8fb81f00b8053b34519 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Rohrer Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2020 01:13:10 -0400 Subject: the things they carry --- jones-la/carry.txt | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+) create mode 100644 jones-la/carry.txt diff --git a/jones-la/carry.txt b/jones-la/carry.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fdbdce --- /dev/null +++ b/jones-la/carry.txt @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +Name 3 tangible things you would bring with you if you were drafted. +Talk briefly about their importance and why you would want them. +======================================================================== + +I practice minimalism actively. Most of the tangible things I use are +interchangeable---pencil, paper, pen, cup, computer. I'm not very +superstitious, so I don't carry anything for good luck or to ward off +evil. I don't, in my daily life, carry anything that couldn't be, within +a reasonably short amount of time be replaced by something else. My +phone is probably the single least interchangeable thing I carry, but +even it's not particularly unique. It could be switched with the same +model within a couple of hours. I don't store anything on it that's +unique to the device, so I could replace the device entirely within a +day or less. I'd carry that, but it's of no symbolic importance. + +On the note of symbols, I have few if any but none important. I have +no single thing or set of thing like Cross's letters, and I don't keep +souvenirs. I might carry a deck of cards or a chess set, if I so chose, +but it wouldn't hold any symbolic value---at least at the start. I like +to believe that it would remain that way: whatever item I carry can +interchange with any sufficiently similar item. And I think there's a +good chance that whatever thing I carry would remain just that, +utilitarian and nothing more. There's also a chance that I'd become +attached to it, of course, but I find it improbable. + +Beyond those two archetypes---necessary tools and optional tools---I +can't presently imagine any particular object which I would value deeply +for symbolic reasons. For that reason, I imagine my third item is +something I carry in error or by accident. I don't currently attach +myself too strongly to anything, but that's because essentially +everything with emotional value to me is physically proximal. The draft +would certainly cause me to develop a symbol for something without +intrinsic value, but I can't know what that thing would be, just like +Cross didn't know beforehand that a one ounce rock would be something he +carries. -- cgit