“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.” – Henry David Thoreau
What does it mean to live a simple life? Is that even possible these days? Some call it living off the grid. Then you are labeled a recluse, a hermit, or just plain crazy. I often think if I were king, it would be of a deserted island and the only subject I would govern would be me.
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde
With the explosion of electronic gadgets and social media in my lifetime, I often think of the simple life my grandfather lived. He was a simple man in his wants and needs but not in his character. In many ways, he lived Thoreau’s advice to, “Simplify. Simplify”. He was born when the horse and buggy was the primary mode of transportation and lived long enough to see man land on the moon. But he never had a computer, cell phone, smart watch, or even an electronic calculator. His “technology” was a Zenith colored television, Arvin transistor radio, and rotary dial telephone. He didn’t have a refrigerator, it was an ice box. He drove the same 1971 Chevy Impala until he died. He grew tomatoes in his backyard with soil sweetened by the cow manure from my uncle’s farm.
His Social media was an evening of bid euchre with his friends and a visit with his farmer friends on day trips in the country. He had no need or desire to share the details of his life with his “friends”. He simplified his life by simply living simply. He just didn’t see the need to make his life complicated. It can be hard to live such a life in this age of technology but when I want to try to come close, I step outside untethered and take a walk in the woods?
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” – John Muir
Some questions to ponder…
When you leave the house and discover you don’t have your smartphone do you panic?
Do you have nightmares about losing your smartphone?
When your electronic gadgets don’t function just like you expect them to, do you become angry?
Do spam texts and emails tick you off?
Have you ever listened to music on a transistor radio?
Does it annoy you when you are at the store or otherwise out in public and people are having private conversations on their phones, out loud?
Can you imagine a time when there were no smartphones and there were only four channels on the television?
Have you ever used a rotary dial phone?
Have you ever been in a phone booth, and used the phone?
When was the last time you went on a hike in the woods?
If you intentionally left your smartphone at home, would life come to an end?
_________________________
“People who know contentment can live in the dirt and still be happy, while people who don’t know contentment can live in paradise and still complain” – Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
