I recently stumbled upon a junk store. I call it a junk store because unlike an antique store or a thrift store there is no attempt in this store to be organized, to highlight or even consider anything precious. Items are piled upon each other without regard to logic or organization. In fact the only organization I have learned is that when an estate is acquired the unsold items from a sale are simply dumped in the store as they are after the clean out. There is not really even any inventory and there are no prices.
It can be a bit difficult to navigate through the items because there are very few clearly reserved spaces for aisles. In some instances the access to areas has been completely filled in with more stuff. These are the items which remain after a person dies for which the immediate relatives or other parties did not deem of interest and then during a subsequent estate sale did not sell. They are in effect the cast offs of the cast offs of the cast offs. The unwanted of the unwanted of the unwanted of the dead is what we are talking about in this store.
This is the way of life. We may like to think things important in our lives, and truly many things are worth a certain seriousness. Serious yes but not so serious that perspective is lost. Nothing I can do is so important that the world will stop or that all the laws of nature will change course. Take for example two items that caught my attention on one of my visits to what is perhaps now my favorite shopping experience.
One item was a rather interesting looking framed piece of paper that caught my eye, even though it was way above my eye level. The item was an old somewhat ornate certificate which proclaimed the formal appointment by a government agency of an individual to perform the actions for which he was duely appointed. It was rather a convoluted way of saying you are entitled to now go out and do a certain job. In my mind as I stood there looking at this thing trying to decipher what it said since it was not near to me I could imagine a ceremony with lots of people all dressed up meeting at an appointed time for which there had been fancy announcements prepared, distributed, and responded to as protocol dictates. There were almost certainly speeches made, yawns stifled, fidgeting and foot shifting and wandering minds taking place as well. After the certificate finally made it into the hands of the esteemed person perhaps some light refreshments were served or maybe a formal dinner. And then today here sits the prized possession and grand efforts of not only the government officials but also the recipient. The training required, the time spent, the questions answered, the appointments made and kept, the dues and fees properly paid with receipts in hand, all have come down to this item as you see it in the photo.
The other item which caught my attention was even more grand than the previous item, yet ends in a fate no different. The second item being a gift of appreciation for the dedication and commitment on behalf of an ever so grateful board of a hospital children’s rehabilitation center to an esteemed individual. That individual was the Archbishop of New York, his Eminence John Cardinal O’Connor.
Neither of these items is older than I am so in less time than I have been alive these items which I am sure were oh so important at the time have now found their way to this store. Of course the story is not over. Either one or both could still yet become the center of an intricate plot of subterfuge of as yet an unwritten novel. These two items could still become the centerpiece clues in some fictional murder mystery. Or they could become a layer in a beautifully executed artistic creation by a yet to be discovered or even born artist. One never knows.
I suppose if there was any purpose in my sharing any of this with you it would only be to remind each of us, including myself, to keep things in perspective and to realize that nothing remains as it is now unchanged forever. Also to remember that we are but one tiny little speck in a greater universe that we should be in awe of and not deluded into believing the universe is in awe of us.
