Booting the boots

  I feel guilty for liking the show "Hoarders." I can't decide whether the people are being mostly helped or mostly exploited. The show provides a therapist to help alongside the "extreme cleaning specialists," but they also allow only two days for the process. Putting on that kind of time pressure puts the hoarders at risk of a breakdown. I hope that's not what the producers are counting on, but I suspect it is because it wouldn't make good TV to see someone heal slowly and peacefully.
  I feel bad for the hoarders and recognize they have a sad mental illness. Yet part of me just watches and thinks, "Dang, that's crazy!" Part of the appeal, too, I suppose, is the reminder: "Don't be like that." I'm always motivated to clean my house after watching the show.
  That's why I'm getting rid of boots. Apparently, I'm a rain-boot hoarder. It seems I can't come across a one-dollar pair of children's boots without buying them. My stash has outgrown the box where I store them over the winter, so some are going to Goodwill. There's no way I need so many the same size, but thoughts will pop up: I do have four kids now, and we live in the woods, which get muddy, and if they have friends over and want to play outside ... .
  But no. We don't need all these boots. I think kids' rain boots are cute, and I like finding some for cheap. That's all it is, not a real need. "Hoarders" taught me that.