We all take care of the important things of life. We build our careers, care for our families and we hold on to items that we will need in the future. Recently my father-in-law passed away and I was helping my wife and sister-in-law in clean up the house. It is amazing how much we collect over the years that we believe is important: vacation pictures, files, books, speeches and talks, awards and various other items that are important to us. My father-in-law was particularly meticulous about saving tax records and financial information and his office wall was covered with the awards of a successful career.
My wife was responsible for going through the more personal items while my task was the attic and the financial records. It went back years and years. When I was through, there in the garage was more than 30 years of tax forms and records – over 12 boxes worth! Thousands of pages of what most of us would agree are important and that most of us would save. I stepped back and scratched my head. My intent was to save three years plus one and then shred the rest but I had no idea what I had volunteered for when I said I would shred them. So I took six boxes down to the office store nearby and asked them if they could. Their price was reasonable so I helped them lock the pages up and went home to decide what to do with the last six boxes.
When I got back my wife had found out that the city would shred at their recycle center so I took the remaining boxes down to them. While I was helping the crew sort through the boxes they explained what the different bins were for. Cardboard went to one, file folders went to the cardboard bin, old photographs in another bin, magazines went to another. Innocently I asked what the tax records would be used for. “Oh!” he said, “that’s the good paper. That will be turned into paper towels and toilet paper.” So I watched him shred the 30+ years of tax files thinking “toilet paper.”
Pictures were taken of the awards and then sent to scrap, books were donated to the library or recycled, only a fraction of the pictures taken were saved, clothes were given to charity, furniture given to family members or to charity. The accumulation of a lifetime gone except for some items that were deemed important keepsakes. It made me stop to think and I hope it helps you also to put things in priority. So as we approach the Advent season – it will be here sooner than you think – remember toilet paper.
George Cobb, OblSB
