Feb
6
Bag of Tricks
Filed Under Organization
I’ve got some baggage. Rather, I’ve got a thing for baggage. I’m always on the lookout for the perfect bag for some specific activity. Disc golf, hiking, geocaching, work. You get the idea. Everything should have its place, I say. All my gear should be ready to go, allowing me to grab the appropriate bag and hit the door for adventures unknown.
The thing is: I rarely have adventures. I’ve got work and dogs to walk and prime time television to watch, just like everyone else. I’m uncomfortable in rental cars. I dislike airports. And with a small child, the potential for adventure travel is somewhat limited. But this doesn’t stop me from browsing REI for a better daypack.
Whenever I travel, at some point I find myself organizing my gear, making sure everything is accounted for and in the right place. I never noticed any of my friends doing this. Anal-retentiveness, I suppose. But I should wonder what it is I am really doing when I find myself sorting through my stuff, when I find myself making doubly sure pens and keys and batteries are all in the proper pockets. Am I worried about my stuff, or trying to maintain some control over life itself?
Maybe this is all just anal-retentiveness. But lately, I’m questioning my motives, my purpose. As a father, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I want to raise our son. I want to instill in him a sense of wonder in the world, a hunger for curiosity that will make him want to see what’s around the next bend (even if it is just another bend after that). I have this fantasy of going on family vacations. On these vacations, I would keep all my essentials in one small bag. This would teach my son how to travel light yet remain prepared, how to not fixate on “stuff”. Then my fantasy seems to derail into an itemized list of what exactly I would keep in this bag. And how would I use this bag? If we go hiking, do I dump everything out and load it up with hiking stuff? Or do I grab another bag?
This all seems to miss the point, if you ask me.
Maybe keeping myself organized is a way to overcompensate for the randomness of life. But it’s a sucker’s bet. You can’t prepare for life by keeping necessary items close at hand. The only thing you can do is remain flexible, ready for anything. Ready for change.
So not only is organization a deceptive activity, it also leads you away from how to truly remain prepared. While I am increasingly obsessed with having the proper bag for the proper situation. To be ready for life is to keep things easy, to not worry about keeping things organized. Keeping things orderly places too much emphasis on the items themselves.
I realize that I can never teach my son these things I wish to teach him because I don’t know them myself. Not yet. It seems I’m much more likely to instill a sense of organizational paranoia and object worship in my son–hardly the best gift a parent can give.
On the other hand, I think of my Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. I’d also like to be the kind of father who is ready for any crisis that might emerge. But not at the expense of carrying a purse.
You have to remember what’s important. And usually it’s not anything kept in any bag.
Comments
Leave a Reply
-
Categories
-
Archives
-
My Photos
-
-
