In today's world, it may seem like people tend to talk much more about new things they bought
rather than personal stories. Jimmy Santiago Baca criticizes this tendency of Americans on
valuing possessions more than stories. In my opinion, while it may be true that Americans talk
about possessions greatly, simply talking about it and valuing it are different and there can be
objects that aren't simply possessions but contain stories as well, and simply dividing the two
things into separate sections may lead to false dichotomy.
First, talking about possessions and what one obtained is different from what they actually
value. When my friend and I met together for the first time in months, I didn't talk about what we
did with our family. It's not because I don't value the stories with them, but it was simply too
private. There are stories that can be told to the public, but at the same time, there are stories
that cannot be told to the public. There is a meme going around inside of instagram about
soccer players posting stories of their trophies in a public account and posting their ugly faces
on their private account or only to close friends. People have different standards of privacy.
Some people may post stories of their silly face on their public account while others might not
want to. Each experience has different stories, but whether we talk about them in public or in a
private situation is different for every person.
People agreeing with Baca, or Baca himself, might argue that on instagram stories, people only
post about the new car they just bought or a buffet they had just gone to, and that people don't
post stories with their friends or families much. It is true that countless people including
celebrities mostly post stories about their possessions, simply posting and valuing are different. I
post stories of trophies I got or restaurants I went to because those events don't occur "daily".
Meeting with family, for most people, is a daily event for them. Because talking with families is
not a rare event, people don't feel the need to post them. Just because people don't post
doesn't mean they don't value them.
Baca is also missing a crucial point where people's possessions can act as a story as well. For
example, if a boy's grandfather gave him a cup before his grandfather passed away, although
other people who don't know the backstory might view it as a regular cup, to the boy, the cup
would contain the memories of him and his grandfather together. In a TV show called Shark
Tank, there was a company that turns the dead person's bones into beautiful small pebbles or
jewelries that can hang onto necklaces so that the rest of family members can hold onto it and
remember the person who passed away. When the sharks, or investors, asked the company
why they made this company and how they came up with their idea, the CEO answered that he
wanted to keep his memory of his mom who passed away years ago with him, and that he
wants to give other people opportunity to turn a person's bone into meticulous objects. From
these examples, Baca's claim can be considered a false dichotomy because people's lives can't
be divided simply into two sections of objects and stories, but in between, objects with stories
exist as well.
Overall, I disagree with Baca's opinion on how people only value possessions and not their
stories because there are stories that can be told only in private situations or people don't feel
like it is a special moment or object for them. There are also gray areas where an object can
also mean a story, and Baca's is missing a critical point on it.