if you were to remove all the empty space between the atoms that make up every human on earth, the entire world population could fit into an empty can of coke.

perhaps its about what we are not. what is not there. what didn’t happen to us. be content with what we have instead of what we dont. i know the laughing idiot with no belongings under the tree is the wise one, but all i want are things and choices and to run away from the emptiness.

for years it has felt that there is an insatiable need to keep changing and to fill any space or time i have with things. an empty corner of a room will occupy me constantly, playing with its contents and angles to show it better. and i am not alone. across the world, garages and closets sit full, having collected over the years and shut off from the world in a mixture of shame and fear that others will covet it. museums overflowing with art and cities of high-rises filled with junk. in our pursuit of meaning, we have occupied this world with brick-a-brack, polluting our water-ways and our lands in an endless pursuit of temporary goods and conveniences that one day we will drown in.

and the race continues…its no-holds bar, winner collects all, fill-empty space triathlon. second homes no longer a scarcity, we buy our cars and collect our objects with endless abandonment. knowing that it is the wrong choice, we keep stuffing our pockets with temporary reminders of our place in it. boxes and spaces filled with a myriad of memories and times, photos stacking up with little to share and memories fading to make room for others. each morning, an emptiness takes hold. time, like a dark room, needs to be filled and a block of space in the room needs an object. lost in the meaning of it all, we will give in to the urges and wander out to fill our life with objects and experiences that will not fill the void or get us closer to the point. but it will scratch an urge.