Crazy Stable

He wasn't always this funny or this wise. (I am thinking of his "why is having an abortion any worse than making an omelette?" argument.) But when it came to two of my obsessions, Houses and Stuff, George got it right like a Zen master. Here's a houseblogger's tribute: Carlin, free-versified. (Or catch him here.)

That’s the whole meaning of life, isn’t it:

            trying to find a place

                    for your stuff?

That’s all your house is;

your house is just a place

for your stuff.

If you didn’t have

            so much

                        goddamn

                                    stuff,

you wouldn’t need a house.

You could just walk around all the time.

That’s all your house is,

           just a pile of stuff

                        with a cover on it.

You see that when you take off in an airplane

and you look down

and you see everybody’s got

a little pile of stuff.

Everybody’s got their own pile of stuff.

And when you leave your stuff,

you’ve gotta lock it up.

Wouldn’t want somebody to come by

and take some of your stuff.

            (They always take the good stuff…)

That’s all your house is:

            a place to keep your stuff

                        while you go out and get

                                    more stuff.

—George Carlin,  1937-2008

Photo: New York Times