How do you know if you exist?
I am throwing away all documents before 2005 - all kinds of statements, bank, credit card, phone bills, electric bills, financial statements, returned checks. Most of them are well filled chronologically. They were so carefully reserved for what? When I decided to trash them all, one question arises in my mind. What if someone asked me to show proof that I have indeed lived in this country since 1992. What can I show to that person my existence? Are these papers the proof? What are their function anyway?
When I throw them away, what is it that I am actually getting rid of? Is it my past? But past has already gone anyway. Is it my existence? But I am still here today. Is it history? What is the role of a personal history preserved in documents such as phone bills and credit card statements? Do I want my existence defined by these documents? Without these documents, do I lose the proof of my existence?
Why do I need to prove my existence in the first place?
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