The "Collector"

  It is strange how some folks "collect" things while others are "hoarders".  What is the difference?  Sure, the term hoarding has lately been removed from its original use of stockpiling needed supplies or money to just never throwing away anything but can't that be said about collecting as well?  Think about it.  There are those who amass huge "collections" of one type item and then there are the rest of us who have "stuff".  I have stuff.  Lots of stuff.  BUT!  The big difference between merely having a collection and having stuff is that I actually use my stuff.  Granted, most of the time, it is as props for the clue hunts we hold here on the Bayou each October but it is, nevertheless, used.  I have always been referred to as the "Collector of Weird and Wonderful Things".  I do not collect things like most folks.  I do not have beautifully displayed racks of commemorative spoons, neatly organized books of stamps or categorized pages of mounted coins.  I have stuff.  Just stuff.  I have shelves filled with dusty old books from eons ago, drawers filled with stiffly starched, handmade doilies and a buffet top filled with antique (lead-filled!) pewter that is unsafe to use.  I have an armless wooden statue of some warrior, a zoetrope and two dead foxes.  (Those are actually antique stoles but dead foxes just the same.)  Weird things.  Wonderful things.  Things that others see as clutter.  Things I like. What is the difference?  

  Collecting, or maybe hoarding, is also noticed in the critter world.  We have all heard of how male crows will steal shiny items to woo their ladylove and how mice will drag small bottles, knickknacks and jewelry into their nests but how about a crab?  This afternoon after I coerced the old dog, Mr. PJ, to take a hike with me, we wound up on the pier.  Here lately, Mr. PJ would rather nap inside instead of hiking but I figured fresh air would do him good.  While on the pier, I noticed that hundreds of fiddler crabs were in the process of protecting their nesting holes.  The males stood waving their large claws at any passerby.  Any "unmarried" males were threatened with bodily harm if they neared an occupied den.  There is nothing unusual about this.  Each summer sees the same thing.  Lots of fiddler crabs being crabby.

  However, one rather large male had another goal in mind. He was not protecting a ladylove and her brooding den.  Instead, he had collected a rather large prize and was busy defending his right to own it.  On the last high tide, a nasty looking tennis ball had washed ashore and the crab obviously thought it was quite grand.  He stood defiantly against all interlopers and waved that large claw violently.  This was HIS prize and his alone!  

  Whether this action was truly an act of love for the tennis ball or whether this was an unattached male who was bored, it made me think of folks who collect and those who hoard.  They are one and the same.  If the collection or "stuff" makes you happy...so be it.  It is no one's business but your own.  If a crab can be in love with a tennis ball...so be it.  It is no one's business but his own.