Possessions can possess us!

This must be the umpteenth time I am moving house again! I studied 4 years in Canada, and had moved house 3 times. Have lived in Singapore since 1983 and have moved house ten times! Once I disposed off my HDB apartment because I was not allowed to keep two big dogs. I tried to give away my rough collie, Kambobo, but before I could even speak on the phone, I would be on the verge of tears. At the end, I decided to move to a rented landed property for the sake of my beloved dogs.

Most, if not all of you would agree with me that moving house is no child's play! Seems like you only realise how much junks you have actually accumulated along the way. All these years I have been giving and giving away a lot of things.... yet there are still so many things left! The previous time when the Hiding Place helped me to move, I decided to give away my lovely ivory Young Chang upright piano to the Hiding Place because I found that one of the boys who helped me to move, is very musically inclined and it would be easier not to have to lug the heavy musical instrument to the 2nd floor walk up. Just after I gave away my piano, someone phoned me up to ask whether I would like to have a lovely used piano! I recommended the piano to be given to my friend, Maya, as she has five musically inclined children who sing like angels!

I have a penchant for books. It is easy to buy books from the shop to read, but harder still to keep them because books are heavy. What a weight when you put 20 to 30 books in one big box!

It is important that while we enjoy having things because they enhance our lives, we need to be careful too that possessions don't possess us at the end of the day! Now I try to buy books and read them, handling them with care, so that after reading, I can "recycle" them and give away as presents.

Life is already tough as it is.... let us not clutter our life with too many things and become slaves to our possessions. If possible, share with others the little or much that we have.

Gan Chau