Cleaning Up the Residue

If you've ever done estate planning, which includes making a will and taking care of other matters, you may recall having seen the word "residue" in your document. The dictionary defines it this way: "a small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone or been taken or used."

When think about residue the image that comes to mind is the slime that a snail leaves after it glides across your porch. 

Lately I have been thinking a lot about all this "residue" I've collected over the years. What's the difference between residue and clutter? I'm not really sure, but I do know I have a lot of things to unload at some point, or it will be a problem for someone else. Any suggestions?

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I saw this quote in an article I read this week and liked it.

“Falsehood can buy many supporters, but truth has only a few friends.”--Imam Hussain

I can't even recall the context right now, but it reminded me of the statement by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, "Straight is the gate and narrow the way which leads unto life, and few there are that find it." 

Another quote that caught my eye yesterday was this one from a small volume by Nietzsche: "The point I can no longer avoid actually asking is this one question: how do we become who we we are?

I have often asked that same question in various ways.

Are we who are we are by the choices we've made? How much of who we are is genetic? And how much of who we become is determined by how we've been raised? That is, how much is nature and how much is nurture? 

Actually, I've always felt both variables were at play. Using a photography metaphor, a poor quality negative can be improved in the editing booth, and an excellent negative can be printed poorly. 

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Well, my mind is starting to drift, so I'd best leave off here 
before you lose interest, too. The images on this page are from some of the residue 
I was sorting last night in my garage. Let's go outside and enjoy this beautiful day.

Scraps of Paper

"Ideas are like cattle. They have to be gathered and herded if you want to keep track of them, otherwise they just wander off and get lost." ~ M.L. Bennett

This weekend I rolled up my sleeves and began cleaning my office. The clutter had me overrun. Keeping things too long is probably a bad habit I learned from my dear mom who, when I was young, kept bags with popsicle sticks, cartons, bottle caps and all manner of odds and ends as long as it had some potential use in a cub scout art project or some other rainy day endeavor.

Alas, the words that make me wince are "potential use" because as a writer nearly every thought, idea, magazine article has "potential use" in a future story, article, book or blog entry. I have enough such idea stimulants set aside that I have filled whole boxes with them and carried them to my garage.

After clearing the floor I made it to the desktop and began sorting, throwing and cataloging. Many of the notes on the scraps of paper are quite interesting. In the old days writers kept a journal to assemble their miscellaneous observations and thoughts. I once read a book of F. Scott Fitzgerald's scratchings. I used to keep notebooks like that myself till the world went digital. Then I began writing on scraps of paper, intending to start a file on my computer. Some, like items 5, 7 and 8 were scribbled while driving and listening to audio books. Unfortunately, the sources are forgotten, though a diligent search would probably prove fruitful if undertaken.

Here are some items from paper scaps I handled this past 24 hours.

1. "May us by breath be the solo meaning of life." (EdNote: This is a quote from a musician in a recent dream I had.)

2. This, too, is a dialogue from a dream:
Little boy says to man, "Pretty soon you will be wearing a tie."
Man says, "What will I be wearing a tie for?"
As he walks away a necktie suddenly appears on the man and he is wearing a tie.
The boy says, "Because it is my dream."

3. Oedipus: Man’s doomed attempt to outwit fate

4. “The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting.” ~Vincent Van Gogh

5. A conservative flaw: the belief in a “Golden Age” when all was good and beautiful.

6. His smile was effective.

7. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

8. “There’s always a moment in childhood when a door opens and lets the future in.”

9. Community was once based on geography, now it is based on affinity.

10. Will the last honest journalist please turn out the lights?

That should be enough mental snack food to munch on for one day. Have a great new week!