One good example of this is to think about a man and an object he particularly treasures. Maybe it’s a ski helmet that he used one time back when Gerald Ford was running things. He probably ended up hated skiing that day but that helmet is proof that he once skied, so expect to find it on his mantle well into his 80s. It’s kind of a badge of honor, in truth.

Indeed, that helmet has a good chance of being found by alien explorers when they finally get around to visiting the planet 4 million years from now. Though it’s a sure bet that it’ll be petrified, it’s also a sure bet that it will be occupying the equivalent of some dusty corner in some archaeological dig. It could be that men look at it as way to connect with a long-ago past, which is why it’s still hanging around.

Another fine example of things men never get rid of is the typical black sport watch. This particular item most likely broke down when Bill Clinton was running for president back in 1992 and there’s no hope of getting it fixed. But the memories attached to the watch somehow require that the watch itself be present in order to send out all those positive vibes. At least, that’s what most men believe.

Generally speaking, women understand men far better than they themselves do when it comes to this sort of pack rat behavior. They get that men have a gene that prevents them from throwing away even the most obscure and unlamented object and don’t even try to get most guys to get rid of those Buster Brown shoes from the early 60s. Indeed, the shoes are here to stay even after the women have given up in disgust and left.

Maybe when he was a boy, and he went to his favorite baseball team’s ball game and got one of those souvenir helmets with the little Oriole on the front of it, that it had some relevancy. After all, there was many a day that that the helmet graced his little noggin, though the little bird is long gone and there’s a crack running alongside from when that little black helmet was hit with a baseball just a bit too hard during a sandlot game. Again, that helmet’s not going anywhere, either.

This is why men tend to make the best museum curators and cultural historians. They look back at history and see nothing but an unbroken line of men, all collecting stuff. Even the pharaohs collected stuff to the ultimate degree and actually tried to take it all with them, including their living servants. Perhaps at some point in the future, an archaeologist will find a watch, a helmet and something to do with snow and scratch her head about what it all means, though any man would be able to explain it all.