We went to Dallas for a day and I remember walking with him in that city’s massive Galleria mall.


“I have absolutely no use for anything here,” Noddy announced.


He sounded awfully superior at the time, and that inherently snobby-sounding accent didn’t help. Was he making a statement about American commercialism? (Not that the British have much room to talk.)


Nah. In hindsight, he was being wise. Noddy was simply a Spartan sort. I do remember him explaining to me how he disliked being burdened with a lot of unnecessary things; how things weigh on people.


It kind of fit him, as his job, to this day, is to defy gravity in a Tornado jet. I have to say he was a brilliant, extraordinary man even in his early 20s.


But at the time, I was early in my journalism career; ergo, very broke. I coveted all the beautiful things I saw at that big, glitzy mall. (I remember the shoes I had on my feet; they had seen better days. Even Mr. Spartan offered to buy me a new pair of shoes, though I was too proud to accept).


Because I had so little, I didn’t really get what he was saying.


Two decades later, I get what he was saying.


I have too much stuff. Most of us have too much stuff, judging from all those ubiquitous self-storage units that continue to spring up all over the place.


We all need to consider this gem from the Roman philosopher Seneca: “What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.”


I was never a collector of any one thing, such as teddy bears, toy trains or baskets; and, in fact, I find collecting a lot of any one thing kind of pointless and on the verge of hoarding.


But I have acquired a ton of stuff nonetheless, and really have no room to criticize others.


Until I cleaned it out earlier this month, my walk-in closet was a wreck and it really depressed me. It was packed so tightly, I couldn’t find the stuff I wanted to wear.


Then there is the guest room closet that is still stuffed with boxes of whatnot. I have boxes of knickknacks; old coffee mugs; and hundreds, maybe even thousands, of my own news articles I saved over the years. Boxes and boxes of books and my hermetically sealed wedding gown and veil (I am divorced). Boxes with old hats, candle holders, picture frames and tons of paper, old bank statements, outdated insurance policies and long-ago receipts in my filing cabinets, which I don’t even open very much anymore.


It causes a heavy feeling.


But at least I made a start with my walk-in closet and can actually walk in it. I cleared three-quarters of it out, which I placed in large garbage bags to take to the Salvation Army.


It was perfectly good stuff, just stuff I no longer wore.

Half of it, I forgot I even had.


I feel a little lighter.


Next time I am tempted to buy something I don’t need, I hope I hear Noddy’s voice from that long-ago day in Dallas.


“I have absolutely no use...”




Patricia Poist is a staff writer for the Living section. Write to her at: ppoist@lnpnews.com.
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