Collectivization- Gotta Catch 'em All

I don't mean the kind of collectivization Stalin used in Russia (but this is a sign that I've been thinking way too much about European history).  What I'm talking about is collecting things.  Why do people collect often worthless objects?  Pogs, baseball cards, coins, instruments, ties, stuffed animals, etc. If it exists there is probably someone who collects it. I've gotten into a few discussions about the purpose of collecting things.  In my family we seem to enjoy collecting things.  We have hotwheels cars, beanie babies, basketball cards, coins, and others.  I help out with the coins mostly and on occasion the cars.  My collections began with Pokemon cards.  I was probably 8 or 9 when my mom brought home my first pack.  I was a fan of the tv show but didn't know cards existed.  I remember not getting anything cool in the pack.  My rare was Pokemon Breeder if you know anything about the cards.  But that was the start of it.  When we would go to the store I would get a pack.  I would got a few on my birthday and lots for Christmas.  A lot of kids built decks with their cards and battled but that wasn't my plan.  My dad had always kept his basketball, baseball, and football cards in good condition on boxes and books and I followed that example.  I got a binder and some card pages and learned how to put the cards in order.  Organization is a big part of collecting.  It separates the collector from the wanter.  When you put things in order holes appear.  Those holes need to be filled. I kept getting cards until about 6th or 7th grade.  I had them all in a binder in order by number and series and all extras were kept in groups in my special yellow nintendo backpack.  There they stayed for 6 years, occasionally being pulled out to show a friend or a little cousin.  The last month of my senior year a friend and I were talking about how we used to buy cards and decided to see if they even still existed.  So we went to walmart and were excited to find that they definitely still made them.  We bought 3 packs each and opened them in the car.  That feeling of opening packs and getting excited was way to easy to remember.  Each card was new that drive to put them into a book kicked in.  But there was a problem.  My book ended 6 years prior.  That meant that 6 years of cards would be between those old cards and the cards I had just bought.  Crap. That's a big hole.  That's when it got crazy.  It truly became an addiction.  I worked at a restaurant and got paid tips.  I went to walmart almost every night after work and picked up at least 3 packs.  There were times that I would buy 15! If I wasn't doing anything during the day I would stop by every store that I knew that sold cards within 15 or 20 miles of my house. That summer before I left I am pretty sure I spent at least a thousand dollars on cards.  One time I spent almost $300 in shot buying 36 packs of the FireRed LeafGreen series. When I left on my mission I asked my dad if he would buy a case of each new series when they came out so I wouldn't fall behind. When I got home I spent a few days opening packs from the 7 series I had missed.  I put them in binders and sorted the extras.  I had to go buy a second 5,000 card capacity box because the one I had from before had filled up.  I've now found that its cheaper and more effective to buy a box so that's how I do it now. 

Long story that helps explain my point (I think). A collector doesn't care about how much the collection is worth.  It's likely that they could name how much they could get for it but that price has no meaning to them.  Years of work and patience and searching is what makes a collection valuable.  There is a difference between a collection and having a lot of something.  A collector has goals and plans for the collection overall.  I have a thing for watches and some would call it a collection.  But to me it doesn't qualify.  I enjoy buying and wearing watches but when I pick out a new watch it has no connection to the rest of the group.  It's just another watch.  There's also a difference between a collector and a "wanter". I have a "want" problem for books.  I see books that I think would be cool to have and I just "want" them.  I do have a collection of books that I am always working to increase. I have lists of books that I am searching for.  But when I go to the DI or old book stores I see things that I just "want".  Some people can't control that feeling and buy it.  There isn't any connection with the item.  it just goes to a stack of other items that were just "bought". 
I think it's important for people to find something to collect.  It gives you something to do in your free time and it will help keep you sane when you got old.  I'm 22 and collect pokemon cards and I love buying old books and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.  If pokemon still exists when I'm 50 I'll have my kids help out.  That's how it worked for me.  My dad showed me the value of collecting and I want to pass it on.