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Bags

We Carry Too Much Stuff

According to the Washington Post we carry too much. There is a tendency for people to carry every possible tech. gadget around on their person whether it will be used (this month) or not. A way to show our financial or tech. richness? Or perhaps carrying around the tools of our trade everywhere we go is a sign that we are married to our work. Unlike the workers of yesteryear we cannot escape our work nor do we seem to want to.

"Slogging around with a backpack, a notebook and a bottle of water, you stop for a while and stare at the historic black-and-white photographs in the National Museum of American History. You know, the ones depicting Americans going about their everyday lives: folks waiting for District trolley cars circa 1900, for instance, or people crisscrossing Pennsylvania Avenue in 1905.

Notice something missing? That's right: stuff.

The people -- all ages, all colors, all genders -- are not carrying any backpacks or water bottles. They are not schlepping cell phones, cradling coffee cups or lugging laptops. They have no bags -- shopping, tote or diaper. Besides a small purse here or a walking cane or umbrella there, they are unburdened: footloose and fingers free.

Now walk outside and take a look around. People on the same city streets are loaded down. They are laden with books, newspapers, Gatorade jugs, personal stereos, knapsacks, briefcases and canvas totes with high-heel shoes inside. They have iPods strapped to upper arms, fanny packs buckled around waists and house keys Velcroed to shoelaces."

Burdens of the Modern Beast. There may be some registration nonsense.

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