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Collecting stamps, as with every other hobby everdevised, is a mechanism of escape, one of those things inlife in which we find genuine pleasure. Only the miserpiles up "the golden grain" for the sake of the moneyitself. Only the hermit prefers to live in solitude apartfrom his fellow man. The rest of us look upon money asa means of providing us with something in which we findpleasure, something that will take us out of our self-imposed routine of life and make us forget for the whilethe travail of mere existence. The collecting of stamps is one of the most satisfying of all avocations. It providesus with a whole new world to explore. It satisfies theyearning for knowledge of faraway places. It stimulatesour interest in myriad subjects of history and technologywhich would not be available to us otherwise. No onesits down to read an encyclopedia for it is a referencebook to be consulted when we wish to know a particularthing. Stamp collecting constantly pricks our curiosityand sends us scurrying through the pages of many refer-ence books. Stamp collecting provides us with the wonderof the unusual, the thrill of the unknown. It takes us tothe farthest corners of the earth and even beyond intothe universe itself—for many stamps of the world picturevarious constellations. And stamp collecting brings usinto close relationship with our neighbors, next door, ina distant city, or in a remote country. It provides us acommon ground where we meet on equal basis peoplewhom we should never know by any other means. Itsatisfies our urge to learn, to own, and to elevate our-selves to a higher plane of existence. |
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