Joel and Packing

Joel's world is ordered. Without a sense of order, Joel has trouble functioning. As pointed out earlier, he can accept a certain amount of ambiguity provided it is planned ambiguity. For example, the bus picks him up everyday between 12:15 and 1:30. It would be ideal to establish the precise time of pick up, but unfortunately the system does not allow for that. Yet Joel is comfortable knowing it will happen within that established framework, planning for the somewhat nebulous time for arrival.

But overall he needs order to find meaning and cannot live in a constant state of confusion or randomness. This weakness, if indeed it is a weakness, is related to his lack of creativity and imagination. Looking at this from another direction, with exceptions people with a messy desk, car, or who lead a spontaneous lifestyle generally have a greater degree of personal creativity and imagination. Obviously this generalization has a consequence in that extremes are rarely beneficial in any kind of sense.

As an aside, I knew a very creative but dysfunctional musician whose lifestyle and personal habits were completely without order, resulting in total physical and personal messes without any kind of productivity at any time. It ultimately caused his own health and career demise demonstrating how any extreme rarely has any gain.

Joel, however, uncomfortable with spontaneity, missing an imagination, and not developing a sense of dreams, replaces this ingredient with a need for order amidst the chaos of the world. Loving to travel but needing to know where, how long, what to bring, and what the trip entails, he packs accordingly and specifically. Obviously this is not an unusual trait, for many people prefer to pack fastidiously, planning for the trip and any contingencies.

Where Joel differs is in his system of packing and determining the items for the trip. He lays out his clothes in order of days, sets out his personal items, creates a spot for other things--Italian dictionary for example, counts the items within the stacks and packs accordingly. He then applies the number needed, exacting the items numerically. This means that if he has packed 8 personal items on the trip, there is something missing since there should be 9. He then seeks out the 9th item whatever that may be. While most people simply make sure their deodorant is present, he instead numbers it among the 9 personal items needed. After counting the total, he then seeks out the precise number of the item.

When we were returning to Texas from North Carolina on a recent trip, he was somewhat perplexed since item number 7 was missing. Thinking through it, he found item number 7, a razor, in the shower. This completed the total and allowed him to finish packing for the return trip. His system works for him and demonstrates his continued need for order and systems. He is lacking in creativity and imagination and yet it is easy to see that he simply rewrites the definitions of those terms according to his own needs. Seems to me that it takes imagination to organize his life by his system. We may not always understand it, but we do respect it.