The Year-end Clean-up

      one of the unearthed items

I have been talking about the year-end clean-up for quite some time. What have I actually done and how much have I achieved? My original purpose was to remove the clutter piled up on my two desks and filling up their drawers to the point of overflowing. The amount of messiness to be handled, however, was so great that what I have achieved is but the tip of an ice-berg. A lot still remains to be done. Of course, I could have finished the task in a matter of hours if I had done what is demonstrated in some online shows, in which the KOLs are seen throwing everything into big trash bags thoughtlessly, leaving the place spotlessly clean and calling this an act of complete detachment, abandonment and separation (斷、捨、離).

From the very start, I was determined to be selective in the items to be discarded. In fact, I would try to retain what was still worth keeping to ensure that nothing still with value would end up in garbage dumps, adding unnecessarily to the pressure on the waste disposal unit. I thus spent a lot of time fondling every single item and examining every single sheet of paper carefully and would discard anything found worthless without a second thought. It took me even more time to sort out the remaining items, trying to decide which place it would finally settle down in before another clean-up action.

Items lying in some dusty hidden corners posed particular difficulty. I had to wipe every item clean with a wet cloth. Washing the cloth repeatedly in cold water later caused some skin rashes on my hands. But with gloves on, my hands could not work satisfactorily. That was why the work progressed at a snail’s pace.

Nevertheless, the effort has paid off handsomely. I have unearthed quite a few things still delightfully re-usable or recyclable. And I complimented myself on my success in turning a few old objects into trendy gadgets with my creative design. A small pen holder, for example, has now become the warm bed of my cell phone with a cute lovely ribbon round it. 

Some cards, letters and photos have brought back fond memories. They may not have grabbed much of my attention when I first received them. But now, they touch my heart warmly, causing my thoughts to drift back to those good old days I used to share with some friends and students. I wish I could now write each of them a reply again, expressing my appreciation for their kind thought and answering their questions which I may have carelessly neglected. They indeed kept me so emotionally engaged that it was ony some time later that I managed to pull myself out of the memory lane and resume my work again.

I now realize that clean-up work will not only reward me with a more pleasant living environment. It will help me sort out my thoughts as well. There are thoughts which, like the unwanted objects, need to be discarded without lingering sentiment. Conversely, some thoughts ought to be treasured and recycled to ensure that they contribute to a better life attitude in the same way as the recycled items can do good to the environment.

In any case I have derived great pleasure from my clean-up work. Though I may not have achieved much, I am glad to have made a start after all and can at least share about it here with satisfaction.