Shreds of Evidence

There is a bag of shredded paper sitting by my front door. One of many that have been generated as documents kept for decades are finally liberated.  Documents that recorded the passing of time, important occurrences no longer clearly (if at all) remembered, and the meticulous filing of things that haven’t been referred to let alone needed in an embarrassing amount of time.

Files can remain long after the person is gone. This is part of what creates the necessity of clearing out a house after a parent or other family member dies. Personal papers give tiny glimpses of aspects of the person that the person doing the clearing out may never have known. Looking at work awards, or hand-written letters (now perhaps emails) or even bank statements can provide an insight into what had meaning, what was duty, what was appreciated.

The process of clearing out my own paper life was at first painful. As if the shredding would erase my life, make it as though it had never happened. But it did happen, whether anyone remembered or not, it did.  So why keep all this stuff that will never be missed?

The shredded files, calendars, bank statements, checks, receipts and more is going to a small business to be used as packing material. Rather than sitting in a dark closet, the evidence of my prior life will see the light of day again and serve another purpose. It feels good to know it is being used rather than trashed or even recycled. And it feels good to know I’ve done something useful in finally getting rid of it.