Idea Essay 2 - Collections

As I grow older, I become more and more regretful of the fact that I hadn't ever collected anything, and now I feel like it's too late. Even though I personally have never persistantly collected something, I know that people have a specific aesthetic drive to want to collect something they are passionate about. For some it may be books, for others it may be stamps, and so on. So what is it that drives people to collect the same things over and over again of a different variety? For one reason, it entirely appeals to a person's sense of aesthetics. Depending on one's taste, (whether it be "good" taste or not) it satisfies that person's need of constantly cultivating a passion. The thrill of the unknowningness of whether or not you can find that last baseball card from the 1970's that you've always wanted, or the last state in your U.S. quarter collection drives people's passions to collecting. Collecting allows people to tap into what they value and how they see things aesthetically, through allowing their sentimental vaules to tap into their passion. As the saying goes, "One man's trash is another's treasure," this holds true for many collectors. Because it depends solely on what someone sees as important or valuable to collect, which is derived from their aesthetic view, not everyone is interested in certain collections. Some people may know everything about every band in history because they collect records or CD's, and that is because they are aesthetically driven to music. Others may be extremely knowledgeable about bugs, because they collect them after they have died. Personally, I may find these things interesting, but I could never have ther perserverance of collecting countless records or the stomach to collect dead bugs. It all depends on a person's aesthetic view of value.