By BILL YEE
Many people are collectors! I, for one, have a Marvel Comics collection. I am fortunate enough to have the first issue of “Spider-Man, “Iron Man,” “Thor,” and “The Avengers,” just to name a few.
It’s nice to have such a collection but, in the end, do our “treasures” really matter?
Recently I was given the treasures of my friend and coaching mentor Calvin Chow, who unfortunately passed away last year.
I inherited his huge DVD and baseball card collections. My initial reaction was: Why did he do this to me? Where was I going to put all this stuff? Then I stopped and realized that he had entrusted me with his lifelong treasures. That realization changed my attitude. It was an honor that he would entrust me with his treasures.
I decided to donate his DVD collection to the Kids’ Community Dental Clinic, which provides low-cost dental care to low-income children. As a part of the clinic’s fundraising efforts, the DVDs will be resold. The future sale of his baseball card collection will fund a college scholarship for a tennis player at Alhambra High School.
So his treasures will go toward doing some good for his community.
Another close friend and relative that passed was my cousin Warren, who was a lifelong bachelor and an avid collector.
Since he didn’t have a wife or kids, he was able to indulge in his hobby as a compulsive Amazon shopper.
He was also a hoarder. He filled his four-bedroom home with DVDs, comic books, Hot Wheels, Star Wars and Star Trek action figures. In cleaning up his house, his sister and brother estimated that there were over a thousand Hot Wheels cars in one room!
The siblings are in the process of finding buyers for all of his collections.
My sister-in-law was a collector of Beanie Babies. Years. She passed years ago and her collection is still at my brother’s house.
How many of us hoped that collecting Beanie Babies would fund a comfortable retirement?
I have respect for people who have a passion for collecting. It gives one a purpose or a goal when traveling or surfing the Internet.
In the past I have collected baseball cards, comic books, DVDs, and first-edition books. I no longer pursue collecting those items.
The only collection I am adding to is the one of presidential political buttons. Through the years I have collected buttons from most of the presidential elections, which I usually find in antique and coin shops.
As I approach the winter of my life, my interest in acquiring things is fading. What I view as treasures has also changed. In fact, the goal is to declutter the house and the garage.
It’s time to give away the books, DVDs and other collectibles. It also time to sort out photos. I will probably hang on to the comic book collection for my sons and purge old photos, selecting those that will be meaningful to them.
It is time for frequent visits to Goodwill. It is time for others to enjoy my treasures!
Now I am not so unsentimental that I do not have a few things that I do treasure. There are three sentimental items that I would like to pass on to my sons or maybe grandkid(s): a world globe bank, a hammer and a ring.
The globe bank is something that I have had since I was 7 or 8. I used it to put in the tips I received delivering laundry to our customers.
The hammer is also part of my childhood. I used it to hammer projects we made from scrap wood.
Finally, the ring is what I received for being an honored newspaper carrier for The San Francisco Examiner.
All three of these items are links to my youth and provide great memories. The key question is: will my sons treasure them the same way I do?
Remember the famous line, “You can’t take it with you!” Only Egyptian pharaohs could take it with them into the underworld.
I am reminded of one of the final scenes of the greatest movie ever made, “Citizen Kane.” Kane was a newspaper magnate and a very powerful and wealthy man. The character is based on William Randolph Hearst.
After Kane’s death, his employees are burning his possessions. Among them is a childhood treasure. It is the famous sled, “Rosebud.” That was the final word he uttered in the movie.
We come into this world with nothing and, in the end, we leave with nothing despite our economic circumstances.
Perhaps the greatest treasure people like me have at this stage of our lives is the treasure of good health so that we can enjoy each day God has given us.
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Bill Yee is a retired Alhambra High School history teacher. He can be reached at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those ofThe Rafu Shimpo.