Stuff

In view of the floods this week that first hit Queensland, first country Qld, the moving to Brisbane and Ipswich. Now Nsw (country) and Vic (again country), SA (eastern) and Tassie, with us in the sunshine state affected the worst. The tv shows the loss of lives (most tragically) and the wreckage of property left behind. In a roundabout way, I'm getting to the loss of "stuff". It's times like this you realize that stuff isn't actually that important. Anyone who's studied psychology on even a basic level would understand this is where Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes in. For the uninitiated, this involves a picture of a triangle (or is that pyramid) which is multicolored, with each section getting progressively smaller, each one labelled. It is supposed to indicate human needs, from the most basic to the, well non needs.
They are: physiological; food, drink, health etc
Safety needs: housing, shelter, safety from war etc
Social needs: love, friendship, sense of belonging etc
Esteem needs: recognition (ie at work), approval (by our parents etc), leading to self esteem
Cognitive needs: appreciation of art, beauty (visual & aural), sense of justice, knowledge,
Ethics etc
Self actualization: fulfillment of ones potential, Winston Churchill is often held up as an example of a self actualized person. The reason it's on the top is (theoretically) because most people don't reach this stage, think many countries in Africa and now Qld (especially).
So, back to stuff.
A lot of people have tumbled back to the bottom of this pyramid. Stuff probably comes somewhere in between safety needs and social needs. We build a house (or live in one anyway) and fill it with stuff. Six years ago we lost nearly all our stuff in a house fire. We had some of the kids clothes, clothes on our backs, the laptop, books, CDs, DVDs, photos and my wedding dress (& oldest girls flower girl dress) as well as some crockery and glassware (in a display cabinet) and linen. That was it.
Six years later I have another house and it's full, but it took at least 18 months to be back in the same (ish) spot as we started, oh and in more debt, lots more. We were insured too. So to the people affected by the flood, my heart goes out to you, it's such a traumatic time. Once you've gotten rid of the worst of the mess you'll feel a bit better. You do realize all the belongings you had were all just...stuff., stuff that you can live without. The rebuilding is kind of exciting because you're getting new stuff, but having said that, who'd thought you could get sick of shopping? You do, weirdly enough, but some stuff you do miss.
I miss copies of my mothers family tree, my old (and mums) swap card albums (can't pass them on now), my formal clothes (including the ones I made myself), a leather jacket (very 90s), my hot tuna flower pants (so cool) and the jeans (caverns of course) that I sewed so tight my circulation was compromised and then sewed in some suede patchwork down the outside seams. Not that I'm hanging on to them mentally (sigh), but you do remember them, and somehow recognize their place in the greater scheme of things.