Like We're Going On A Plane

     Everyone is allowed one carry-on and one personal item.  This rule, which applies to flying, seems to now apply all of the time.  People carry so many things now, one bag cannot contain them all.  I've been guilty of it myself at times, though recently I've reverted back to carrying my giant backpack.
     Sometimes it's obvious- one bag is a purse, and the other is a lunch bag.  I get that.  It's still cumbersome.  A purse or briefcase and a gym bag is pretty common too.  But sometimes, there are just two purses, or two messenger bags.  Their organization technique is unclear to the casual observer, which I realize as type that sentence out, could possibly be the point.
     A messenger bag and a purse.  A messenger bag and a briefcase.  A backpack and a purse.  It's easy to conclude people just carry too much stuff.  But it seems to go deeper than that.  Each person, with their two reasonably sized bags, seemed airplane ready.  In one bag, they probably had their prescription medications and no more than 3 oz of toiletries.  An extra pair of socks, a pair of sunglasses, a book, a phone, and an iPod.  The other bag contained things that were important, but would probably get left behind if the plane were going down.  The things we don't want to trust to baggage handlers or pay the fee for; we don't want to be without them, but they can be separate from this other similarly sized bag.
     In general, this is not a well thought out theory.  It just occurred to me this morning, as I sat with my kind of large backpack in my lap, knowing my lunch pail was inside of it.  I carry two bags too, but one is inside the other.  That actually seems more ridiculous.  Or at least the same.