Australian Thoughts at the Weekend. 28th February, 2009

Australian Thoughts at the Weekend. 28th February, 2009

My Collecting Gene

[Updated from a ATAW first published December, 2005]

I have a number of collections. Firstly, there is my collection of stamps. I started out in this when I was about ten. It taught be about different countries and something about them. In fact I learnt to recognise Chinese, Japanese and Korean stamps fairly quickly. I also learnt that some countries have strange names for themselves. Switzerland called itself Helvetia. Norge seemed a strange way to spell Norway. So it went on. I learnt about Kings, Queens and Presidents. I learnt about special events. I learnt things like the United States of America could not put its flag on a stamp as the postal cancellation mark would deface the flag. Some years later the flag appeared on a stamp of the United States. I also learnt something about the value of various stamps. Most of mine were low value but I collected on for a number of years. I now have hoarded bags of stamps that I have collected over the years.

Some years before I started collecting stamps, I started collecting books. The first ones were Little Golden Books. Johnny Appleseed was a favourite then. To these were added my Sunday School prizes. I loved the story of Shadow the Sheep Dog. I soon added other books and my collection has grown to where it is now several large collections.

I have a collection of various translations of the Bible and New Testaments. That’s really a part of a big collection of religious books. Another part of this collection is a collection of hymn books and Salvation Army Song Books. Although many of these are a bit battered, I treasure them. I have several books about hymns and hymn writers which I also value as a resource. However, much of the information about hymns is now easily found on the internet.

Of course, I have many Salvation Army books. I would guess there are well over 500, maybe a 1000 volumes. I have made a start on cataloguing these. I am grateful that my parents had valued Army writings and had a few books which they suggested I read about the time I commenced Corps Cadets as a young teenager. That reminds me I have a big collection of Corps Cadet Books of the Month. Often these were the short biographies that could be read in an hour or two but also included some major books by Commissioner Brengle and General Coutts. I only have a few of my own Corps Cadet Handbooks but I have quite a collection from later when I was responsible for leading. Corps Cadet groups.

Sunday School (we never used the term – it was always the Company Meeting) provided quite a heap of resources for my collection. I have about two dozen of the red International Company Orders books (one or two years are green covered) and the later Living and Believing and the Manual of Bible Teaching Series. I also have quite a collection of the annual booklets which were published as a resource for the Young People’s Anniversary which included songs, poems and short dramatic items and tableaux.

Another major part of my book collection is my Australian collection. I have several hundred books about Australia and by Australian authors. These range from the academic to the very lightweight. There is historical fact and fiction. There is politics and travel.

Of course, I have book collections relating to my other hobbies such as gardening, woodwork and fishing. Another hobby is photography and that has not so much generated a collection of books but a collection of cameras. Gardening and woodwork, too, are not only hobbies but have generated their own collections of tools. Fishing has generated a collection of more than a dozen fishing reels and a collection of rods for various purposes.

Oh, I forgot birds. I breed birds so that has generated a collection of about a dozen books and about 120 birds. It is the breeding season so I have not done a recent count. These are mostly zebra finches of various colours, a diminishing number of canaries and at the moment four quail. I have a general interest in Australian wildlife and yes that means more books.

In the past year, I have been collecting CDs of Salvation Army Bands playing Christmas Carols. So far I have catalogued my collection gives me a choice of over 140 carols and Christmas songs. By Christmas that number will probably increase.

My most recent collections are caps, key rings and flags of various nations. I was disappointed not to be able to find a Vatican City flag when we visited there but I found one in a shop in Rome while looking at other souvenirs. Our holiday to Europe last year provided opportunity to add to this collection and in the next few weeks, I will arrange the display of these in my office here at home. I must add I am grateful to friends who have sent me flags, key rings and caps from their countries.

Years ago, my wife found and cut out of a newspaper a small cartoon. It was one of the “Love is” series. It simply said “Love is letting him keep his junk”. So we have developed a respect for each others collections.

I thanked my parents for introducing me to Army books. I think I can also thank them for the collecting gene. My father had a few prized possessions but none more than his motor mechanic’s tools. Along side those tools, in his shed was, I think, every part he ever replaced in the various cars and trucks he owned over the twenty years he lived at that address.

My dear mum has the real collector’s gene. Some less reverent people would call it a hoarder’s gene. One of her uncles was a champion. When Uncle Les died, his house was absolutely full of newspapers stacked in order in the various rooms and passageways. He also had a huge collection of empty tin cans and various screw top bottles which would come in handy for something one day. Unfortunately, those who cleaned up after him did not share his vision.

I have been thinking about my collections and my inclinations in that direction since I heard a program on radio that hoarding is a disease. Not only was the speaker was saying that but she has a program to break hoarders of the disease. I guess Uncle Les was a sufferer of OCHD (Obsessive Compulsive Hoarding Disorder).

I thought about my collections and their worth to me when I read during this week the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus very clearly says:

"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or--worse!-stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. (Matthew 6: 19 -21 The Message).

I am also reminded of what the Letter to the Hebrews says:

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3 New International Version)

I can feel a New Year’s resolution coming on. I guess I can do a bit more collecting by then.

Lay up treasure in Heaven,
Life will pass away;
Lay up treasure in Heaven,
For the great accounting day;
Lay up treasure in Heaven,
Though men count thee poor,
Thou shalt reign with the sons of God
For evermore.
The Salvation Army Song Book: Chorus Number 249.
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