From SHOPTISM by Lee Eisenberg
regarding RUSSELL BELK
page 297
..."Belk makes a compelling case about the inter-dependence of having and being. In fact, he even proposes four stages of human development based on the connection between having and being;
1) as infants we seek to distinguish ourselves from our environment.
2) as children we seek to distinguish ourselves from others .
3) as adolescents and adults, we use our possessions to help "manage" our identities and
4) as old folks we rely on certain possessions to maintain a sense of continuity and prepare for the end. Nearing that end, we cherish not only letters and photographs but also things we purchased over the years, thoughtfully or impulsively: jewelry, china, mementos of various kinds, even, perhaps, an old dressing gown.
"Our accumulation of possessions," says Belk, thus "provides a sense of past and tells us who we are, where we have come from, and perhaps where we are going."
Something to think about the next time you lose a possession that had come to mean something important to you. A break-in, a house fire, your own carelessness, it doesn't matter how it occurred. The response is the same; a part of you has gone missing.
C author Lee Eisenberg published by Freepress
