Is our relationship with people or things?

The other day I was going to office by bus since it was crowded I had to give my lunch bag to a lady who was sitting and when the bus arrived to the university stop, I got down and scurried to office as I was late. Half way through, due to intense walking I felt thirsty and BANG came the reality on my face, I had left my bag with the lady in the bus!

Thanks to my reflexes, I turned around and spotted an auto rickshaw and jumped in and was telling the auto driver to follow the bus. The panicked driver (who was on his mobile talking to someone) fumbled and said he does not know the bus route, and I was more than intimidating now and said: just follow my direction was my reply, no order! I was following a bus, which had left the bus stop five minutes ago…. And the auto was zooming at great speed, (while frantic thoughts were racing in my mind… im going to be further late to office….my new lunch box and bag and water bottle was gone …. Will I be able to catch the bus…even if so, will the bag be still there?) suddenly came to a halt, it was a traffic signal and we had fifty seconds to become green. We had no choice but to wait during when we both caught our lost breath and he asked me why I was chasing the bus and I explained everything to him and he very naively said: it’s only a lunch bag.
Suddenly everything around me froze momentarily (like you see in Matrix) as the truth dawned on me and I became oblivious to everything. I tried giving him an answer saying it was new and bought only yesterday and I forgot the bag because im not used to carrying a separate one like that, etc. but the truth was, Its my bag. I own it. I alone can use it. This is what is in my subconscious mind, which has been driving me crazy behind a bus that could be seen only me in the horizon!

Suddenly the pangs of shame struck me and I felt sad. Am I having a relationship with my lunch bag? Why was I feeling bad when it left me… the reason could only be my selfishness? By this time we were behind the bus inching in the traffic jam and I jumped out of the auto ran to the lady in the bus and took the lunch bag and again hopped inside the auto and back to office. While returning I was wondering about the lunch bag episode and this however looks like a common feature in our households, “This is my Rbk Shoes, dare not touch it” says your brother. “That is my favorite pink tee shirt, you will not have it” and that’s your sister. “That’s my costly parker pen, I’ll get you another one” says your dad. So what if it’s yours, costly or favorite? Isn’t the person more important than the things we use? Just reverse the case and say you are my son/sister/brother all I have is yours. Pure joy prevails. The joy of giving, the joy of bonding. It isn’t all that simple as it sounds as we have to fight SELF to be in that joy and what better season can it be done than in lent? Let’s start with our very small things…. As I get reminded of an SMS I received sometime ago. There is so much confusion in the world because we love things and use people; the world would be a lot better if we love people and use things.