I often wonder what the things we collect say about who we are. I collect elephants. I started collecting them when I was in high school before I knew anything about them. I bought a small ceramic elephant at a garage sale and I was hooked. I now have upwards of 500. I once met a lady with a collection that included an in-ground elephant shaped swimming pool.
Since high school I have learned many interesting things about elephants. Such as the herd never leaves a hurt or stranded member behind. Elephants will return to the death site of a herd member for years after the death. If a mother elephant dies the baby will be adopted by another member of the herd. Elephants hold grudges. Elephants will not normally attack people unless they or a member of their herd has been injured, mistreated or attacked by a human first. They are so much like humans it is amazing.
So it makes me wonder what made me first start collecting them and why am I still so facinated with them? My cousin collects cows. Why cows I wonder? My sister collects pigs. Both of them went on to marry men interested in owning farm animals even though when they started their collections before they had even met the men they married. Coinscedence? My aunt collects frogs (not live ones) and has upwards of 1000. She has an entire room in her house dedicated to the little green fellows.
We all collected animals but there are people that collected napkins, match books, comic books...You get the idea. My question is what drives us to collect and hold onto these things? Am I drawn to the elephant because of it's humanitarian atributes? Maybe my sister and cousin felt the need to be self sufficient on a farm? My aunt ...OK I don't get the frog thing. But it does strike me as odd that one thing out of all the multitudes of subjects in our vast universe can capture and hold our attention for the span of our lives.
Even after much research and reading I am still fascinated by elephants. But I am still baffled as to what drew me to them and capture my heart in the first place. It's almost like finding a mate. Although I don't think I chose elephants for their smell as psychologist suggest is how we choose our mates. Next time you meet someone with a collection ask yourself 'what does the collection say about them'?
