They are given 5 minutes to look from the door, they cannot go in, they are not allowed to touch anything but simply look at the objects inside.
This reminds me of a children's game I often played, where the participants were shown a tray full of items for two minutes. The adult then took the tray away and from out of our sight, and everyone was given a sheet of paper and a pencil, and we were to write down every item we could remember. Our indigenous children mates were particularly good at recalling the items on the tray.
Storage Wars is an American reality television series initiated in 2010 in California. The goal is to turn a profit on the merchandise. A first spin off ran in 2011 from Texas followed by a third from New York. Storage Wars was recommissioned for another 26-episode season in January 2012. It was A&E's top-rated non-fiction show for 2010, with an average of 2.4 million viewers which grew to 5.1 million by the second series. The program is shown on television in many countries. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_Wars)
It is interesting to watch the dynamics of the bidders, when a container is opened and it is full. The participants scramble around and go all in with their bidding, but, as one might suspect, when it is empty or of little interest, they barely make an offer for it.
This reminds me of the age old tale of 'you cant judge a book by its cover'. I recall that one bidder decided on this specific occasion to bid on one of the near empty sheds and won it for the small fee of $1.50.
Under a general rule the full sheds can sometimes go for upwards of $4,000.
Something else that has interested me is that these $4000 bided sheds, they are nearly always full of, well, what I'd call junk! Regular items include broken electronics, torn furniture, boxes full of clothes and even loads of knick knacks. Not really what I'd be expecting having paid that much money.
The shed that went for $1.50 had 1 plastic chair, 1 box, a fold away table and a couple pairs of shoes. But, hidden in the box was an antique from the civil war worth more than $400, this was an instant 320% profit, whereas the $4000 shed new owner has barely found $2000 worth of goods. In my view he took a hit of $2000.
Our Youth Group
Herein lies the moral of this program 'Storage Wars' is that you can't tell a book by its cover – and I must say, it's quite entertaining watching the antics of the participants and their reactions to whatever is the outcome of this process.
Our youth group is pretty full on when it comes to understanding spiritual truths for our daily lives. A recent youth bible study had John 7 verse 24 for our instruction and therefore my interest in illustrating 'Storage Wars' - as a comparison:
"Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge with righteous judgement".
Our youth leader explained that we should never look at someone by appearances, never look on the outside of a stranger. Rather, get to know them from the inside where the real treasure is with Jesus Christ. As our youth group is growing with new people, and this has been a good lesson for all of us.
Christopher Archibald lives in Sydney and is an under-graduate student.
Christopher Archibald's previous articles may be viewed at
www.pressserviceinternational.org/christopher-archibald.html