Love Those Possessions

I saw another one of those news stories about a man who had fallen in love with his car.  He didn't like his car, he was in love with it in the same way a man falls in love with a woman. He is planning to secure the right to legally marry the car. I suppose on their honeymoon night, the car will claim she has a dead battery instead of a headache.  I guess he loves putting his loose change in her glove compartment...or something. The phenomenon of humans feeling love for material things is either more common or just more reported, given our insufferable inability to escape all of those devices. 

Oh, and is there any single material device today that humans fall in love with more often than a cell phone?  Probably not. But then the electronic medium are seductive to both sexes. I also think some people  prefer their Ipods to their children.  Well, in some cases they may have a good reason or two to feel that way. Their Ipod doesn't talk back or get the neighbor's daughter pregnant. And if the ipod no longer pleases the owner he can throw it away for a new one. I am pretty sure we can't throw away our kids.

Sometimes humans are unsure about their own self worth and it is easier to show affection toward outward material things rather than to have others reaffirm their worth. Those cell phones never question a human's worth, never judge what kind of person they are.  And they are a more personal object than the traditional favored possessions of previous generations, the house, car, that clothing item worn for many years. Now we love things so much we bond with and interact with them repeatedly every day.

I suppose, if asked, we would have many different answers to the "which possession do you love most" question. And material possessions are not inherently bad. We all receive satisfaction from possessions, and we use our possessions to establish common points of interest. Having things makes us feel we are more desirable as humans, that others will value us more.

But in the end, material possessions do not determine who we are as human beings. Ok, maybe to the cell phone addicts they do!