Pieces of my soul

Every so often I attempt to clean my house. At one point, I had over 2,000 books, most of which I am not reading at this time - not enough hands. I whittle down my book collection - I donate a few hundred every year and "recycle" the truly awful ones. In the process of all of this whittling, I noticed something - I was sadden by this act of cleaning.

Who am I? Who are you? Am I just an island, defined by nothing other than mind? Are things around me actually part of me? Can I be better defined as "me and my environment"? Things around me have memories associated with them. When I scan over my books, I see the titles and remember what was in them. Without those around to remind me, my memory of them will fade over time. So, by getting rid of the books, am I not also getting rid of pieces of me? I have to be defined as "me in my environment". So, any changes to my environment are changes in who I am. By cleaning, am I not killing myself, throwing away pieces of me?

The same goes with buying new stuff - I have to change some aspect of myself to adapt to the new items. I am a different person after I buy something - which is why I buy so many books. :) If only I could absorb the information in them... but I digress.

This led me to realize something! eBay. Why is it so popular? Because it allows people the opportunity to try and recreate an earlier version of themselves! People can find the stuff they had as a kid, for example. I've seen it - people talk about something from their long lost past and get all misty-eyed. They obviously have the memory of the object, but for some reason, once they acquire it from a place like eBay, they are different. They have a clearer picture of their memories from their past - they have partially recreated themselves from the past.

So, maybe a company that could focus on recreate ones childhood, or some other past point in time, by selling items that allow you to be that previous person - now that would be a killer company. I even have a company motto: We sell you pieces of your soul.

The Edward

My Ant Brethren

Fellow Ants, lead me your sound listening devices. I am here today to speak about global warming. We have seen the effects of it - some of us exploding as the sun's ray focus down on some of us individually. Some say that those who were fried to a crisp were sinners in the eyes of a god, but I say No, we are all to blame!

There is no force outside of us and our world. Can you imagine a giant somehow focusing rays of the sun upon us? First off, it would take years for any creature to travel from the nearest life-bearing colony to here. Then, you think that this being would have nothing better to do than to burn us one at a time? I say those kinds of beliefs are not only unfounded, but are the kinds of thoughts that have lead us to this point. We have to live in reality, with the known rules of the Universe.

It is true, living in this modern age, that we have indeed discovered the very core rules to the Universe, and we should be thankful that we live in such enlightened times! With this knowledge, we know that the earth must be getting hotter, we have to look no further than the the sunspots that pose such a treat to all of us. Who wants to end up burnt to a crisp like Larry was just yesterday? Scouting for food, looking to help the colony, and now he is gone and we have to make up the slack.

Then there are the poisons. Sometimes it seems as though the earth gives us big quantities of food in those black buildings that suddenly appear, only to try and poison us. Or the mists from the sky that raid our villages. Or the hotels that seem to attract our roach cousins.

I saw it is all our own fault. Look how many of us there are on this world. Obviously we have an impact. Therefore we must be the cause of these global catastrophes. We need to turn our greatest minds to the task of solving this problem, to come up with lists of little things we can do that will make big differences! For surely, the fate of the world is in our hands!

The Edward