Ownership is Burden

When I was younger, my grandparents would tell me sayings in German, in all their long full guttural twists and turns. I either promptly forgot the German words all together or made up some crazy personal version of the saying that usually translated to a phrase such as: "all small cows drink blue trees" or something of that nonsensical vein. For that reason, I decided not to even attempt the German version of the saying "ownership is burden." Of all the pearls of German wisdom dropped on my ears as a child, that was the one that stuck with me most strongly. Especially in our modern era of owner's manuals, one million features, planned obsolescence, and digital overload, it is just plain _hard_ to take care of all of the things that we buy. In my estimation, avoiding new ownership burdens was one of the best parts of not buying anything for a year. Unfortunately, we have not been able to escape even this pleasure thanks to the "free" bookstore of Baltimore. Take all the books you want and you don't have to leave a penny. In fact, the Bookthing would prefer that you leave nothing and take much. Be greedy! signs urge browsers among the stacks. Greedy I was, as I built my American feminism bookshelf, dabbled in French plays, amassed a collection of Dover Thrift editions, and bombarded the house with various other bits and pieces of literature and non-fiction. Faced with a move of 1000 miles, the prospect of moving 1000 books along with it is daunting. We could give all the books back to Bookthing, but they have been carefully gleaned, and it is hard to divest yourself of the sentiment that you may read each and every one of John Updike's novels someday. If I could accurately translate phrases from English into German, I would say to my grandparents: "Even things freely acquired bring burdens in the end!"