Two for Tuesday: Attachment

Two diverse worlds collide this Tuesday as I think about the man named Badger I met in the parking lot of a thrift shop in Cottonwood, Arizona. He's a preacher who lives in his Toyota van and has, it seems, for a very long time. The man experienced a conversion and holds a belief so strong that every day he parks his van by the side of the road where he preaches the gospel, surrounded by heat and dust and his handmade signs proclaiming the power of his lord.

As we talked, he pulled out his special doll named Miss Susie. He blew the dust off her face, wiped her eyes with his thumb, and smiled. "I've had this doll for 22 years," he said. "Miss Suzie and I go way back." For a man who lives in a van and has lived several lifetimes in his lifetime, it's fairly remarkable to me that Miss Susie has survived the journey, that she's remained the cherished possession of this bonafide anti-materialist. I mean, really, what are the chances? Practically zero to none.

I'm not sure what to say about this unlikely pair other than attachments can be mysterious and surprising and deep.

Later in the week, I heard a New York intellectual, Akiko Busch, lecture about the power of objects in our lives. The line from her talk that stays with me is this: "We think with the objects we love. We love the objects we think with."

I wonder about the love and thoughts Badger has shared with Miss Susie, the black doll in the comfy white pajamas.