Packrats
Created | Updated Jun 29, 2002
What is a Packrat?
Packrats, or people with a tendency for what I call Packratis, come in many levels and intensities. Packrats are people who can never stand to throw anything away. Some are greater packrats then others, while some are only packrats about certain things. These people should NOT be confused with collectors! Someone who has two hundred valuable stamps is a collector, someone who has two hundred sets of plastic cutlery that they have washed and reused is either terribly anal, very thrifty, or a packrat.
How does Packratis work?
Packratis can skip generations. My grandmother is a packrat; I myself am a great, slightly crazed packrat. Yet neither my mother, my father, nor my brother is one. Sometimes Packratis appears seemingly at random in an otherwise Packratis-free gene pool. This could be a singular case of Packratis, and one that will not spread down through the Packrats descendents. Or, the Packratis could spread. Not just to the Packrat's descendents, oh no, but to the Packrat's living relatives. Which raises the question: Is Packratis nature or nurture? Are we born Packrats or made Packrats? I think that it's a little of both. Some are born Packrats. You cannot stop a natural born Packrat from being a Packrat; it's hardwired into our brains. Others are born with a slight tendency towards Packratis, and with only the tiniest push will become full-fledged Packrats. Finally, some are born without a Packratic bone in their bodies to Packrat parents. If these parents/siblings/friends push this non-Packrat enough, they may become a Packrat.
Why stay a Packrat?
The thing that helps to keep Packrats, well, Packrats, is Murphy's law. The second a Packrat gives into peer pressure and throws something away, they find not two weeks later that they are in desperate need of what they have just thrown out. Therefore, a great part of Packratis is fear and a need to be prepared.
What else is involved?
Though Packrats most often come in completely different mixes of personality, there are some general traits which most have:
- 1. A tendency towards obsessing
- 2. Telling the same story repeatedly to the same people
- 3. Either absolutely terrible or truly excellent long/short term memory
In closing....
Packratis is neither a good nor a bad thing, it simply is. Perhaps when more people fully understand it Packrats such as myself will face far less prejudice in the world.
