[Paisleychick-lj] Possessed

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Screenshot from Possessed][3]

Kragen and I just watched the [short documentary video of "Possessed"][4]. It was [linked to on boingboing.net][5] on Monday and I clicked through. It briefly touches on four people's lives. They are hoarders. It is interesting to see the variety - some people cannot stop buying things and get £40,000+ into debt, others can't throw anything away, others, well, they're depressed and things get out of control. It was horrifying to me. I don't understand how this happens. The people in the video didn't understand very well either, but they were pretty sanguine at the same time. It's a 20 minute video and worth the watch. I understand the temptation to save broken things in order to fix them or cannibalize them for parts. I try not to let this get out of hand and we've got a very small collection of things to fix. It's going to stay that way if I have any say in the matter. I think putting a time limit on fixing things is good. It took me a couple of months, but I did just fix (with solder) a string of yellow rope lights that burnt out because of water damage.   
  
Watching the documentary lead me down a rabbit hole of other articles about this stuff. I read [Craphound][6], by Cory Doctorow, and found [articles about people living with too much stuff][7] - including animals (so so sad and horrible). That article is FULL of links about stories and articles and resources. The denial that people live with is pretty amazing.   
  
"It's a real mess here," he told one reporter who'd come along on the raid. "I don't know how it got so messed up. I guess things just got out of hand." [Understatement of the year.][8]   
  
I know people who live with lots of crap. I've been in apartments that are filthy and edge into hazardous. I try to be compassionate rather than judgmental. My heart breaks for people living like that, but there's not much I can do. All I know is that I'm going to do the dishes now and fold the clean laundry.  


   [1]: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2327/2325308709_26de0c8332_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2325308709/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2325308709/
   [4]: http://www.vimeo.com/603058
   [5]: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/10/possessed-a-document.html
   [6]: http://craphound.com/place/Cory_Doctorow_-_Craphound.txt
   [7]: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/2003_01.html#002253
   [8]: http://www.citypages.com/databank/18/849/article3322.asp

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/335417.html