One thing that really struck me as we saw Arizona for the first time in 3 years was the large number of new storage places.  A few years ago these were extremely rare. Now they are ubiquitous. Everyone in Canada and the United States needs extra storage space. Even though house sizes had doubled in size in the last couple of decades while family sizes shrunk, people needed more storage space.  This is the product of a society enamoured of stuff. Devoted to stuff. As a result, we have a society of stuff. Sacred Stuff.

I have also noticed in the neighbourhood that everyone seems to have a truck. A huge truck on the driveway. Is that because they can’t get it into their garage. Is it too big for the garage? Eventually I learned that many of the garage were stuffed with stuff! Huge mounds of stuff inside garages. I was too shy to photograph them. What would people think?

Chris and I know a person in Winnipeg who is a hoarder. Really a hoarder. Her house we have heard is stuffed with stuff. No one is allowed in to see the state of the house for she is too embarrassed. But recently she had a problem.  Her heating system was malfunctioning so she had no heat in her house. That is a pretty big problem in Manitoba in winter. But she did not want to allow anyone to come into her house. She refused to allow any worker to come in to fix the furnace. Therefore she lived in a house in Manitoba without heat in January! That is insane. That is more insane than having a house stuffed with junk.

Here in Arizona, I have seen many garages filled with stuff. As a result their vehicles are left on their driveway permanently even though that is very tough on tires in the desert sun. Why do people have so much stuff they can’t use it? These often are not rich people. But they are dysfunctional people.

Is that not a sign of spiritual decline?