Belongings

We come into this world with nothing on us, but we certainly don’t seem to stay that way. We collect tools of use, mementos dearly held, symbols of how we see ourselves and want to be seen. We collect more and more of these objects as we move on, despite them not always (or, more accurately for some, “rarely”) being of any great use.

But in many ways these items give us shape. They reveal our traits and inform our character. The rings on our fingers, the keepsakes next to our breasts, the guilty snack jammed in our pocket... these things end up parts of us. Occasionally, though, they end up debris we simply don’t bother to sever from ourselves.

From time to time, it’s important to go through our bags and billfolds to see if we’re carrying more weight than is necessary. Or to rediscover some part of ourselves we thought lost. Put the elements of yourself out in full view and ask what still belongs.

--Keeper of Hopes, Discarder of Despair