the underwear drawer

souvenirs

I noticed this afternoon that Joe had thrown away his old short white coat, from back when we were med students. Though I am loathe to throw anything away (which explains my not insignificant problem with clutter), I did not begrudge him for trying to clean out his closet. However, I noticed that he had left his old name tag attached to the coat, which I thought surely was an oversight. This was a collector's piece, a souvenir item. So I rescued it and put it on the kitchen counter.




Later that afternoon...


MICHELLE
Oh, you accidentally threw out your old med school ID tag, but I rescued it.

JOE
Yeah, I saw that on the table. I threw it out again.

MICHELLE
Why would you throw it out? Wouldn't you want to save that?

JOE
(Perplexed)
Why?

MICHELLE
Because...because it's nostalgic! Your old med student ID tag! Don't you want to save that? Think how cool that'll be, when you're some old crusty attending, to have your med student name tag from the turn of the century!

JOE
Not...really. Why would I want that?

MICHELLE
Well, why do people save anything? Why do you save your med school diploma?

JOE
I need that to get a job.

MICHELLE
OK, bad example. Why do you save your graduation tassels?

JOE
I didn't.

MICHELLE
You threw out your med school graduation tassel?

JOE
Well, I don't remember saving it. What would I do with it?

MICHELLE
Look, if I have to explain why you would save something like that, you probably wouldn't understand anyway.


So now internet peoples, tell me: who is crazy? I am inclined to point the finger at Joe, but when I really sit down and think about it, I can't really think of a way that excessive sentimentality is a particularly adaptive mechanism either. And it certainly makes my desk messy.




Above: My med school name tag, along with my graduation tassels, from (L to R) elementary school, high school, college, and med school.