compassion/pity for inanimate objects?

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I feel bad for footballs (the American kind), because they look like large testicles and it's their destiny to be kicked repeatedly for their entire lives. How cruel.

Yes. I am angry at loving a hat I had for ~10 years which was "accidentally" thrown out.

Bahaha, this is all too familiar.

I did that a lot as a child--having misplaced empathy and compassion for animals and other inanimate objects.

It's not as prevalent now, but I had a similar situation a few weeks ago where I started sitting on another chair at the dining table because I thought it might've felt "left out."

I've gone back to sitting on my regular chair. I usually try to keep these things in check.

I feel bad for plushies and stuffed animals that I find abandoned on roadsides, in yard sales, flea markets, thrift shops, etc. I mean, they're just cute and lovable plushies, what did they do to deserve that? I always make sure to leave with at least one or two that really "call out to me" when I go to places like that.

I also feel sorry for abandoned cars, too...I can't help but feel a twinge of sadness when I see a bunch of them wrecked or cannibalized for their working parts in junkyards.

I think I have this classic Disney cartoon to thank for that...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOrOzDnjjNw[/youtube]

I used to see it on the Disney Channel all the time in my formative years, so that might be why it made such an impression on me...it's one of my favorite classic Disney shorts, tho, and Susie's still one of my favorite characters - she was even the inspiration for my WP nickname.

Anyway, what's funny is that when I was little, my parents used to have a small powder blue car, and when my grandmother had to move into assisted living, she gave her navy blue Buick LeSabre to my dad. At first, I was sort of sad bcuz ever since I was little, I'd thought of our old powder-blue car as "Susie," and actually used to call it that and think of it as my imaginary friend to an extent, but then when I thought it through, I realized that my grandma's car needed a home, too, and our old blue car was bound to find a new owner soon after she was put on the market. After awhile, I grew to like the Buick as much as I had the old car.

And like the OP, I have two favorite blankets - my Cars one with Lightning McQueen and the Piston Cup logo on it, and this super-soft fluffy pink one I got last year.

Always have.

I used to be like this a lot. Still do a bit, but not as much.

I used to feel that way about objects and places, but most especially time. I felt that time had feelings and was upset if I weren't aware of its coming and passing away.

But I stopped all that nonsense in 1997 when my Dad and my dog died. Now I only have emotions for people and animals, and sometimes plants.

perhaps this video might help you

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBQj_pBp7YM[/youtube]

I do quite a bit, but I'm able to rationalise most of it now. As a child, I was very attached to some plants and some of my toys were just like little people. I also remember being very upset when the council decided to knock down a low wall, which had been the remnants of an old farm house. Apart from the fact that I had spent a lot of time on that wall, as a child, alone in my thoughts, and also the fact that it had some historical value, it was a lovely little wall and was doing no harm being there. All that's there in its place is a bit of paving. Why did they knock it down? I feel more upset for the wall itself than my memories of playing on it.

My 7yr old daughter takes it to an extreme. She's a hoarder, although not as bad as she was. It used to be the case that she wouldn't allow us to throw out packaging, sticks, leaves and scraps of paper. Actually, anything that she had acquired had to stay in her room until she'd completely forgotten about it. Everything meant something to her, as she had personified it all. Now, it just seems to be toys and paper that she's written/drawn on. The other junk is allowed to be disposed of, which is a relief, although she won't dispose of it herself.

I remember taking her to see 'Bolt', when she was about 4. She was wailing at the scene where Bolt returns to find he's been replaced by another acting dog. To most people, it's sad, as the girl seems to no longer care about the dog. But, that's not why she was wailing. Bolt had dropped his carrot toy and not noticed it. She was upset for the carrot toy, not the child/dog relationship.

yes. I always thought my toys and other things were conscious and just couldn't talk. I would apologize to one toy if i decided to play with another.

I used to feel sympathy for objects, when I was a child, but grew out of it during my teens. I suspect that it was a projection of my own social isolation, which was already coming to the foreground even at an early age.

I do still have a tendency for feel sympathy for unused systems, though, if that makes sense. For instance, there's a shop nearby that seems to get very few customers (it's a corner shop, selling typical household provisions) and the proprietor and his wife are always nice and friendly, so I try to go there as often as possible, even making sure that I have spare change available to spend (the shop doesn't accept credit or debit cards).

I feel sorry for the shop itself, if that makes sense. Which is daft, because the owners seem to be quite happy and prosperous in their own little way. But I can't shake it off.

Under-used transport routes are another. When I hear about a rural bus-service facing the axe due to budgeting constraints, I feel sorry for the people who rely on it, but almost as sorry for the bus-route itself, because its underuse seems a shame (even though I know rationally that all possible bus-users must use it regularly and there simply isn't the user-base to justify keeping it on). I'm not sure whether I feel sorry for the vehicles involved or for the system as an abstract concept.

Or computers that aren't attached to the internet. Poor things ...

Its why I still have the same car since 1992 and have just spent £20,000 restoring it whereas I could have ended up with a better car for a lot less money.

I totally identify with this (excuse the late post ). It wasn't until my 30s when my girlfriend/wife got me to chuck out a lot of my clutter and childhood artefacts, which I had semi-sentimental attachment to. Even in my mid-20s, when I went to the fairgrounds and played games to win stuffed animals, I couldn't bear to let them go, I kept them in my room and sometimes slept with them; and when they got dirty & dusty, I got upset. I'm sure that a lot of it has to do with a desire to retreat into childhood where there was less responsibility and anxiety and awareness of the "darker" side of life. The progression of life, indeed, can be overwhelming to us Aspies who don't emotionally develop as fast. But I had to grow out of this closet desire for being emotional over inanimate objects, if I wanted to progress in life, and so I'm glad that I was gradually able to wean myself off of it.

I did this to an extreme up until I was about 13 years old. When my mom tried throwing things like old cups or dishes out I would "save" them, hide them under the couch and then a day or two later sneak them back into the cabinet. I thought everything had emotions like I did and I wanted to be as fair and kind to them as possible. When I was in middle school I would save the little milk cartons from lunch that I didn't open (because I felt too bad for them to throw them out) and hide them in my locker. It didn't work out very well for me because after a few months they exploded. That was not good.

When I was really little I would yell at the other kids for killing ants and generally police the playground for signs of insect abuse. I'm pretty sure that went on for at least a year.

Yes, I have a number of very special objects. I also save cuttings from plants to start new plants, as well as bits of sprouted parts of vegetables which would otherwise sadly go to waste. Once they've sprouted roots, I put them in a planter outside to grow while they can. Lst week I made the top cut off section of a sweet potato into a small bonsai-like garden. It is growing very small leaves, & looks happy to me.