Wednesday, May 18, 2011

How to Buy a Lamp

Yesterday I bought a lamp. Here was the thought process.

  • Those florescent lights in my bedroom are intense. 
  • It would be nice to not have to turn on the ugly florescent in the evening. 
  • I have a house guest coming, and it would be nice not to subject them to the ugly florescent.
  • I've been meaning to buy one of those lamps at the market because they are cheap and so adorable.
  • I'm going to buy a lamp today.
Yesterday was also the scheduled end of the world. The irony of purchasing a lamp on Judgement Day was only revealed in hindsight.

The acquisition on my lamp was a departure to my normal attitude towards life in Cambodia. I'm in no hurry to acquire things for my apartment. I have no "real" artwork. I have a random mix of kitchen supplies. I still have all my college posters. I haven't even bought plants. It's all part of the attitude: Cambodia is not my home. I don't know where my home is but I know my heart and soul belong to a completely different continent and a family on two other continents. The idea of making a home so far away from said continent and said people, I can't do it. I just can't.

But I can give three years of my hopefully long life in a quest for self-fulfillment and as a gift to humanity and peacebuilding. I can broaden horizons and try to educate my partners that you cannot practice mediation in cases of domestic violence. I can travel, and learn, and roam like the nomad that I am. 

So if I'm going to invest in Cambodia, I might as well buy a lamp, and a tea-pot, and a plant. After all, with another two-and-a-half years, there's no reason to act completely transitory. And a lamp is actually functional. 

No comments: