Life is a circle

[doitmyself]

Sigh. I share the same melancoly sentiments as most that have posted in this thread. The importance of past material things to the generations moving forward diminishes quickly. Family/life event memories tend to fade easily too. Saddens me to think about it. But, it is what it is. I don't expect others to value what I do deep down in the inner self.

I share JeffKeyrk's goal to try to do something a tiny bit good that matters to me with my time left.

 

[MacManus99]

When my Grandmother passed, my brother and I each received a handmade crochet blanket from her. We also received a monetary gift, the amount of which I can't even remember. The gift of the blanket has always had so much more of an impact.

I hate seeing family quarrels and angst created by greed. It completely misses what's important and places the memory of the deceased as a negative thought. Terribly sad far all.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Seeing stuff like this sure makes you want to skip work on Monday.

And go dumpster diving for treasures?

 

[chainblu]

My mother lives in a 55+ retirement community. Stories like this are quite common there, sadly.

 

[Cujet]

My father accumulated mostly high quality items, like he was going to live forever. As sad as his passing was, It was really nice distributing the stuff among the family. Sure, some things were discarded. Dad would have been proud of the cleanup.

He had 3 cars, I got one, and the others were put to good use in the family. He died in 2008, I still drive the “mighty Jaguar” in his honor.

 

[Aredeeem]

And go dumpster diving for treasures

My father accumulated mostly high quality items, like he was going to live forever. As sad as his passing was, It was really nice distributing the stuff among the family. Sure, some things were discarded. Dad would have been proud of the cleanup.

He had 3 cars, I got one, and the others were put to good use in the family. He died in 2008, I still drive the “mighty Jaguar” in his honor.

 

[Aredeeem]

That’s the way to go. My 2012 Versa and my flip phone will be going to my not so favorite brother-in-law.

 

[CharlesInCharge]

I'm all alone in this world with no close family and few good friends. When I die, my valuables will be looted by whoever finds me, and all my personal effects donated or thrown away. I expect many precious non-valuable yet sentimental things like my military decorations, uniforms, and such probably thrown in the trash. It's depressing.

 

[PWMDMD]

My MIL is very wealthy and most everything in her house is valuable, fashionable, high quality - that will be an estate sale after my wife and her sisters take what they want. They started dividing these things up 30 years ago and some pictures already have a tag with a name on the back. My mother lives off SS, most everything she has is junk and of no value and that will be a dumpster. I won't want anything beyond small objects with sentimental value.

 

[PWMDMD]

I'm all alone in this world with no close family and few good friends. When I die, my valuables will be looted by whoever finds me, and all my personal effects donated or thrown away. I expect many precious non-valuable yet sentimental things like my military decorations, uniforms, and such probably thrown in the trash. It's depressing.

The serenity of being an atheist with no belief in an afterlife is if I won't (can't) care about it when I'm gone why would I let it affect me now while I'm living? I'm here to ride this life out as best I can and when I do finally checkout none of it will matter (to me).

 

[Leo99]

It's almost a mental disease. I have a friend about 65 that is unemployed, in heavy debt, no income but has a ton of collections of cards. Baseball cards, movie cards... all kinds of stuff. He will only sell a small portion of it and when he puts stuff on ebay he sets the reserve higher than anyone is willing to pay because he says it's worth that much and he's not selling for less than it's worth. I asked him what's going to happen to all his stuff when he dies? It's like he never thought of that.

Another friend is a hoarder and has no heirs. He doesn't care what happens after he goes. Guess he'll just let someone else worry about it.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Had to go through it myself, but there are way better ways then the dumpster. A few calls to some select charities would take care off of it, even if he had to pay a packing service to pack the dishes. In my Mom’s small town we just put up a sign “free stuff” and it was like a network of people, some of whom I knew as kids, showed up and hauled it away.

 

[wpod]

Life is a circle ... I guess that is a nice way to put it.​

 

[Fifth87]

I'm all alone in this world with no close family and few good friends. When I die, my valuables will be looted by whoever finds me, and all my personal effects donated or thrown away. I expect many precious non-valuable yet sentimental things like my military decorations, uniforms, and such probably thrown in the trash. It's depressing.

I am in the same position. Depressing is exactly how I feel about it.

 

[blufeb95]

MY 96 year old neighbor died last year, he'd lived in the house since it was built in 1956, His family took the precious mementos and useful furniture and stuff, but pretty much threw out the rest, I don't think he liked to throw anything away, he was into wood working, there were all kinds of scrap pieces of woods, jars of old screws and nails that had probably been around since the 60s and 70s, just all kinds of junk that it took a lifetime to accumulate and it'd take another lifetime to sort back through and find a use for again.

 

[CharlesInCharge]

MY 96 year old neighbor died last year, he'd lived in the house since it was built in 1956, His family took the precious mementos and useful furniture and stuff, but pretty much threw out the rest, I don't think he liked to throw anything away, he was into wood working, there were all kinds of scrap pieces of woods, jars of old screws and nails that had probably been around since the 60s and 70s, just all kinds of junk that it took a lifetime to accumulate and it'd take another lifetime to sort back through and find a use for again.

But, here's the other angle.

I've invested in "stuff" and I find stuff very useful and rarely let's me down. When my "stuff" let's me down, I toss it, open a box, and replace it with different "stuff."

I've invested in human relationships. Those have almost universally brought momentary happiness, followed by being forgotten, taken advantage of, neglected, ignored, and/or betrayed.

Most of the stories in this thread involve heirs or siblings taking the valuables and throwing out a lifetime of collecting of sentimental or "not valuable but useful" stuff.

So, I ask, why bother in the human relationships? In the end, you're a dollar sign. The valuable stuff taken, the rest goes in a roll off dumpster.

If I were to die with 10,000 loved ones, or none, it matters not really. The valuables go to others, and my sentimental items into a landfill. For instance: I have a framed Bronze Star for my combat deployment heroism service. Nobody cares. It will end up in a landfill.

 

[PWMDMD]

But, here's the other angle.

I've invested in "stuff" and I find stuff very useful and rarely let's me down. When my "stuff" let's me down, I toss it, open a box, and replace it with different "stuff."

I've invested in human relationships. Those have almost universally brought momentary happiness, followed by being forgotten, taken advantage of, neglected, ignored, and/or betrayed.

Most of the stories in this thread involve heirs or siblings taking the valuables and throwing out a lifetime of collecting of sentimental or "not valuable but useful" stuff.

So, I ask, why bother in the human relationships? In the end, you're a dollar sign. The valuable stuff taken, the rest goes in a roll off dumpster.

If I were to die with 10,000 loved ones, or none, it matters not really. The valuables go to others, and my sentimental items into a landfill. For instance: I have a framed Bronze Star for my combat deployment heroism service. Nobody cares. It will end up in a landfill.

I have some need for human relationships. My wife, my children, a few friends, all bring me (mostly) joy while I'm living my life. Your attitude can be extended to why do anything? Why bother going through life at all? Sure, when we're dead none of it really matters but it matters to me right now.

When people hear I'm an atheist they will often say how sad that sounds since (I guess) I'm not living my life towards some eternal bliss in the afterlife. I see it exactly the opposite way. Live the **** out of this life while it lasts. The idea of death does not make me sad, it is something every human who was, is, and will ever be will experice but I do very much like this thing called life. It has its ups and its downs and its share of heartache but in a 14.8 billion-year-old universe I will be here for the blink of an eye and so I want to make it count, I guess for me while I'm alive, since this is the only time it will really matter.

 

[02SE]

But, here's the other angle.

I've invested in "stuff" and I find stuff very useful and rarely let's me down. When my "stuff" let's me down, I toss it, open a box, and replace it with different "stuff."

I've invested in human relationships. Those have almost universally brought momentary happiness, followed by being forgotten, taken advantage of, neglected, ignored, and/or betrayed.

Most of the stories in this thread involve heirs or siblings taking the valuables and throwing out a lifetime of collecting of sentimental or "not valuable but useful" stuff.

So, I ask, why bother in the human relationships? In the end, you're a dollar sign. The valuable stuff taken, the rest goes in a roll off dumpster.

If I were to die with 10,000 loved ones, or none, it matters not really. The valuables go to others, and my sentimental items into a landfill. For instance: I have a framed Bronze Star for my combat deployment heroism service. Nobody cares. It will end up in a landfill.

Of course there are no guarantees, but just maybe if you keep trying, you'll find someone who makes life enjoyable.

 

[Malo83]

I'm all alone in this world with no close family and few good friends. When I die, my valuables will be looted by whoever finds me, and all my personal effects donated or thrown away. I expect many precious non-valuable yet sentimental things like my military decorations, uniforms, and such probably thrown in the trash. It's depressing.

But, here's the other angle.

I've invested in "stuff" and I find stuff very useful and rarely let's me down. When my "stuff" let's me down, I toss it, open a box, and replace it with different "stuff."

I've invested in human relationships. Those have almost universally brought momentary happiness, followed by being forgotten, taken advantage of, neglected, ignored, and/or betrayed.

Most of the stories in this thread involve heirs or siblings taking the valuables and throwing out a lifetime of collecting of sentimental or "not valuable but useful" stuff.

So, I ask, why bother in the human relationships? In the end, you're a dollar sign. The valuable stuff taken, the rest goes in a roll off dumpster.

If I were to die with 10,000 loved ones, or none, it matters not really. The valuables go to others, and my sentimental items into a landfill. For instance: I have a framed Bronze Star for my combat deployment heroism service. Nobody cares. It will end up in a landfill.

Donate your uniforms and decorations to a local veterans group that displays memorabilia in a memorial hall, VFW, American Legion, AMVETS.

VA.gov | Veterans Affairs

Apply for and manage the VA benefits and services you’ve earned as a Veteran, Servicemember, or family member—like health care, disability, education, and more.

www.defense.gov

 

[vavavroom]

I've seen that sort of thing happen. The heirs called a hauling company and had all possessions indiscriminately taken to the dump. There were many things that could have been donated or sold if they had bothered doing a garage sale. Pretty respectless operation, in my opinion. I wonder what the heirs did with their grandpa's urn.