A Place to Store My Piss Pot
Growing up, I’d often hear the phrase: “We don’t have a pot to piss in…” Anyone remember that?
It was a reference to, essentially, being poor. It was a visceral analogy, exaggerating the fact that we did not have many material possessions. Not even a pot. Not even a pot that’s sole purpose was to…catch piss.
I’d love to go back in time a bit, and interview my Grandmother, who lived through the Great Depression. I’d love to ask her something like this:
“What if I told you that in the future, people will pay other people, to keep their stuff for them?”
“What if I told you that people’s houses would be so full of stuff, that they had rent space in their town, to keep more stuff?”
“Now Grandma, I’m not talking about ‘rich people’. I’m talking about ordinary folks, like you and I. And I’m not talking about a corner in some warehouse. I’m talking about storage facilities that often look better than other people’s garages. Outdoor, indoor, heated, electrified. I’m talking about people taking their stuff to a building, rolling boxes into an elevator, going up 10 stories and placing those boxes into a keycode protected, air conditioned storage room. With cameras to watch their stuff.”
I wonder what Grandma would say?
Now I’m not poo-poo-ing the usefulness of a storage facility. There are certainly a lot of use cases that I think make complete sense. And like many of you, I’ve had jealous thoughts about the storage space industry, like “why didn’t I think of that?”.
My point is simply about putting things in perspective. A skill that can be learned by comparing our present, with our past. Which is why it’s a skill more often refined by those ‘more mature’.
This morning I drove past a strip plaza, and a brand new storage facility was celebrating its grand opening. The building had to be 80,000 sq.ft or more. And it was surrounded by commerce. Grocery, autos, housewares, clothing, etc…
It made me wonder what Grandma would say? I think she’d say something like this:
“Hell, now people can just buy their clothes, walk next door and put them straight into storage.” And she’d undoubtedly provide some sort of comment or look that equates with the modern-day “SMH”.
But again, the point is not to criticize the storage industry, it’s to think about my ability and desire to put things into perspective.
I was driving to work this morning, and I began to think about my problems. But after a short reflection on the new, massive storage facility that I’d just seen…I began to see them as “problems”. Like with air quotes around them…know what I mean?
Problems?
What would Grandma think, if I looked past all of the abundance that I have in my life, all of the love and health and friendship and opportunity…and wanted to tell her about my “problems”? Those “problems” like ‘how do I get everything done?’, ‘how can I grow my business today?’, ‘why can’t I visit the Cayman Islands more often?’.
Nope, can’t do it. Can’t be drawn into a vision of my day that is devoid of perspective. I’m going to be grateful for this day. Actually, I’m going to crush this day, on behalf of everyone in my life that I care about, and who enriches this relatively brief time that I have to give.
Because I’ve got the biggest, shiniest, most wonderful piss pot you ever saw. And I know just where to put it.
