The Pack Rat vs. The Collector

Not everyone recognizes the difference between a a collector or a pack rat but becoming or remaining one or both seems to be highly appealing whenever we are faced with the opportunity to jettison anything from either office or home. The collector masquerades as a semi quasi artiste who purposefully amasses many sets of many different things which can and are at times catalogued not only for efficiency but to prevent the "collection" from being mislabelled the horde of a pack rat. For some reason, the term pack rat never implies anything admirable while "collector" has possibilites and is not automatically frowned upon. There is at times a fine line which differentiates one label from the other but more often than not the lines are blurred to such an extent that it is almost impossible to tell them apart. The sad truth is that almost everyone (except the spartan purists) has pack rat tendencies and these can grow in power until you are at high do with no chance to dig yourself out alone. You are forced to hire p.r. assistants, (the stronger the better) and relegate almost all your spare time to the "dungeon" where you have stored what you have amassed, your fortune in 'acquired' goods. From old baby toys, to non-vinyl lps, from Girl Guide catalogues and badges, to old high school anatomy texts, from corncob pipes to old style fishing rods, from old address books to old Yellow Pages tomes, from more than musty Dick and Jane readers, to many cans of olive green paint that you used in the kitchen of your first apartment in 1955, and the "collection" continues....One day you realize that you can no longer walk a straight line from one end of your cavern (basement??) to the other without it being like an obstacle course and now some of your treasures pose health and safety problems too. You decide to tackle this EYESORE immediately so with the aid of your p.r. helpers you begin the arduous task of bagging and throwing. Each miniscule inch of the over-cluttered surface that you manage to clear gives you a tremendous feeling of power not to mention lightheartedness after you grieve for those whose lives you have preserved in boxes for all these years. You are perhaps and hopefully better able to let go. The only danger with carrying out this massive PURGE is that suddenly you realize that there is no room for your cars in the garage because this place is now occupied by the boxes you have decided were keepers. It turns out that you may no longer be a pack rat but you have become a bona fide collector.