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Just off the top of my head, I would define it
just as it reads: Something with which you or
someone else had or has an "emotional attachment".
Before you press the "delete" button, let me explain.
By "emotional attachment", I don't necessarily
mean a strong attachment. It could be very
fleeting.
Example: You spend a quarter for today's
newspaper. You have 25¢ worth of emotional
attachment to the quarter while it is in your
hand and on your mind. You have an emotional
attachment to the newspaper all the time you're
reading it, even if you only read the comics
page. With both of those items you have a
"personal connection" while you are involved with
them. Even though you have long since forgotten
they ever existed your "mind tracks" will remain
on them always. (With the quarter the "mind
tracks" of thousands of people will remain on it
for its lifetime.)
Example: Historical newspapers being my field
(I'm retired now), I once had several newspapers
which were delivered to Thomas Jefferson. If
memory serves, I sold one of them about 15 years
ago for $500. Now, an identical newspaper
without the Jefferson connection would have sold
for perhaps $5. The Jefferson paper brought the
money because of the "personal connection", a
part of which was the "emotional attachment"
Jefferson had with the paper while he was reading
it.
Example: From 1960 to 1962 I was a Xerographer.
That meant I ran a Xerox machine. But that was
in the days of the Model A Xerox - the very first
commercial machine. You could make one copy
every four minutes and each copy had to be
exposed and developed by hand. I of course had a
"personal connection" to the machine and the
copies. Today, our Museum of American Heritage
in Palo Alto, CA, has one of the old Model A
Xeroxes and our printer has taught himself to use
it. This may well be the only operational
machine left in the country, and he makes copies
on the old machine for special events. He too
has a "personal connection" to that machine, but
it's different than my "personal connection". To
me it was a valuable machine serving the purpose
for which it was intended. I attached no
historical or sentimental value to it in the
'60s. To him it's an historical artifact.
Comments welcome, especially the ones that go, "Huh?"
-Jim Lyons
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