Thursday, August 17, 2006

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE LIKE THIS?
Linda Mackintosh is drowning in treasures. Piled high to the ceiling of her Connecticut home, her collection of paper bags, boxes, yogurt containers, office supplies and so much more allows only a narrow path to get from room to jam-packed room.
"Everybody thinks it's just a pile of old news, but to me it's a treasure!" Mackintosh said of her collection of old newspapers.
Mackintosh is one of at least 2 million people in this country with a condition known as compulsive hoarding. They suffer from a powerful urge to acquire and a paralyzing inability to discard.
"When I go to throw something out, I get nauseous, a headache," she said. "I break out in a sweat."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know someone like this. It's me. I can't stand to get rid of any books. I never know when I might want to read them again. The last sentence "I break out in a sweat" reminds me of some Winning Words I heard on McNeil-Lehrer tonight "No body owns water. Drink some and try to keep it."