[78-L] Collectors and 'hoarders'

[eugene hayhoe]

Here are some criteria I would use to distinguish the difference between 'hoarding' and collecting:
 
Are things organized, accessible, easy to find and 'clean' ? Are they alphabetized, or otherwise in a coherent, easily discerned & used system? Are the objects stored in a way that allows for their easy utilization? 
 
Only a few duplications (1 or 2 %?). Out of 20,000 or so titles (cd/lp - I only have a few hundred 78s, although maybe close to half of the jazz/blues lps & cds I have are reissues of 78s), I have maybe 50 or so dupes, which I look at as gift material for those who might appreciate them, with only a few of those being 'back-ups' for myself
 
Does the owner actually 'like' (or in some cases, have as an 'example') what they collect, or are they just objects? As a now retired long time teacher of jazz, rock and blues history, I have several records by Led Zeppelin (which I have, perhaps, $2.00 total invested in), a band I despise, but had need of from time to time. However, such records are substantially less than a serious fraction of 1% of what I own. 
  
I've loved libraries since going on a bookmobile in kindergarten, and feel incredibly privileged to have access to the music (and books) which I have at home; I also know that for the vast majority of it, if I wanted to hear or read, and did not own them, I would be SOL. 
 
Not that I have a problem with hoarding or hoarders; I just wouldn't want to live that way; if they choose to, that's their business. Unlike many these days, I  feel it is none of the government's business & as far as relatives, based on the docs I've seen, they should offer to help clean up, sort and organize, rather than persecute the person collecting - I see it as a housecleaning problem rather than a problem with collecting. Perhaps obviously too, to my mind, 5,000 cottage cheese tubs or the like are different from things like  books and records or other objects of 'genuine' value. . 
 
It is very disturbing to me how a person's privacy and autonomy are constantly under attack these days, from all fronts there is pressure to live as others want you to live, not how you want to live. 
 
I know this is not really 'new,' but with a more concentrated population and the tech available these days, the ability to 'escape' dimishes daily. Contemporary life is already like a Burroughs novel - call me escapist if you want, but do you really want to live in a world with 'predator drones' the size of a bee (or any other size) carrying out political assassinations? (see the Oct. 26, 2009 New Yorker). Given my powerlessness to change this kind of insanity and that I expect human beings will be either defunct or living a life that will not be worth living within the next 100 years or so, I feel very lucky to be able to go into our basement, put on some Duke, Trane or so many others, pick up a book and relax; life without this seems inconceivable to me. If that makes me a 'hoarder', so be it. 
 
Gene