It was a great summer stateside for the family, and it was a challenging one, for a variety of reasons. And then we returned to Israel to move into a new house and reconnect with all (well, most) of our worldly belongings. All of which lead to some deep thinking and personal evaluation. Western culture (I can't speak beyond that) has developed a strong tendency to hold on - to hold on to everything. To save, to keep, to horde, anything and everything. 10 for $10 is the sale at the grocery to get you to buy more; digital cameras allow for unlimited picture taking at basically zero cost; $1 for the first month will rent you a self-storage unit for everything that won't fit in your house; make payments, nothing down for big ticket items; unlimited talk/text/data. And so we do - we keep everything (well, my mom doesn't, but lots of people do) because we never know when we'll need it, or want it. And the wanting and needing continue and the consumption and consumerism gr...