That thing you left behind

Finding time to blog is proving very difficult with my current lifestyle. From now-on I'll micro-blog - short and sweet. It's a challenge trying to convey in less words what may perhaps need more. I'll give it a whirl. Besides, it's the only way I'll be able to continue blogging. Excuses done!

I'm currently away from home, at my in-laws home in the Midlands. There's a funeral about to take place tomorrow morning because my wife's Tayaa (her father's elder brother) passed away recently. Long story - non-relevant.

I was shown his possessions earlier by someone and when I remarked, off the cuff, that they're just possessions and have no connection to the man that was, I was told I can be really un-feeling sometimes. I guess it just slipped-out and I should have been more sensitive. Sometimes though, when you say words that you haven't analysed, those words that leave your tongue un-refined, there's a truth about how you describe things...a sure perspective.

It got me thinking on a related tangent. I have possessions. My Canon Digital SLR camera is probably my favourite because it's the only tool I have apart from the written word that allows me to express myself to others. This thing doesn't reveal anything of me though; it's just a tool. But when I pass away I guess my loved ones might attach some special significance to it because my being was projected through the things I did, the things I loved. And I loved taking pictures. I better stop talking in the past tense otherwise it will seem like I've died already!

Possessions, as we all know, are just temporary and we should never be attached to them. You don't need me to tell you that, but here's an interesting experiment. I want you to comment below by answering the following questions:

1. When you die, as you so obviously will (!), which one possession do you think people will most associate you with and why?

2. What do you think this possession says about you, from the perspective of your loved-ones?

3. What doesn't it say about you, from your perspective? Continue reading ...