What's a man without a shed?

[Canine]

In Colorado there's a commercial from Shed City USA that frequently plays on the radio. There are various versions on the theme, but all have to do with a man being incomplete without a shed. They're kinda funny. But when I first heard them ask the tagline, "What's a man without a shed?" I answered:

A free man.

Seems simple to me, but as a society we sure are hooked on stuff. So much so that if someone wants to live as simply and as frugally as possible (without causing harm to anyone of course), it can be an illegal endeavor.

 

[bullfrog]

Unfortunately for me it is someone who spends a lot of money re-buying lots of things he has no room to store while trying to live simply!

 

[lenny flank]

I often look at the sheds in the Lowes parking lot and think, "There's enough room for me to live in there."

 

[bullfrog]

Had a friend that bought a small cheap piece of property that a creek made it almost worthless to build on that put a raised 10'x10' storage shed up over the creek on a wooden platform. His front door slid open so he could step over the railing onto the bridge. He was very proud to let everyone know he no longer lived under the bridge! He and his wife and 2 kids lived in it for several years in Kentucky.

 

[AMGS3]

I think that "what's a man without a..." statement is telling of how society thinks about ownership as a measure of a person's 'human-ness'. Fill in the blank with anything - house, bank account, job, dog, lawn mower, horse, 401K, truck, sports car, motorcycle, gun, piece of land, son, really I've heard hundreds of variations on this statement.

It's the same with the statement "what kind of guy would...", or "what kind of self respecting fella would..." Fill in those with - pack up everything to chase a crazy dream, not want to put down roots, be on the move constantly, not want to buy a house, or live out of a backpack and sleep in a tent every night?

Our society is constantly reinforcing the idea that if you aren't constantly trying to own more, more, more you are somehow untrustworthy. Or crazy. Or have some crazy motivations. Don't you want to keep up with your neighbors? Look at the tools that guy across the street has. You don't have that? Better go buy it quick.

Because why would you NOT want the bigger car and bigger house bigger yard with the shed to store the tools to care for that yard? Marketing companies use this 'keeping up with everyone else' FOMO (fear of missing out) to sell more things. We are no longer replacing broken or disfunctional items, we are buying the latest version with better features.

Oooh this one has a led indicator. Must be better.

This one comes in raspberry enamel color options, not just black and grey like my other one. Must be better.

This one was made with 'green' manufacturing processes. Must be better. What does it matter? You're buying a replacement for an item that doesn't need to be replaced yet. Maybe I'd understand worrying about the recycled content, emissions free plant, etc, etc... if I was replacing an item that no longer works. But good grief. We are expected to replace items before they even need replacing, because we wouldn't really want to be known as "that dude with the 5year old [whatever]" It's ridiculous.

~angie

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[bullfrog]

Just got to get the competition to agree to make it break sooner so you can both make more profit or raise the price on something that will last to a point only 1/2 the population can afford it.

 

[Dingfelder]

It's not just ownings, it's doings and beings. What's a man without a job? unless he likes sports? or a very particular sport (I think Texans will know what I'm talking about)? without kids, wife, girlfriend, poker buddies, etc.

The world largely wants us to be like everybody else, and we're largely desperate to grant it that and have that visible for anyone suspecting or possibly inquiring. There's a lot of genetic safety in going with the herd. Conversely, as the Japanese saying goes, "It's the nail that sticks up that gets hammered."

It's the risk-takers that tend to create, and everyone loves a hero, but it's also the risk-takers that tend to get hammered, and as the song goes, heroes often fail.

It's hard to be a "thing." Even if you can figure out what the best "thing" to be is.

 

[LivGolden]

As my sister lay dying I asked her what was in the storage units she was till paying for. Her answer struck my herart, deeply. She answered, "photographs" and sort of chuckled as if she knew it was preposterous. That moment still makes my heart break open. So sad. I store nothing, now.