Tag: Simple Living

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One-A-Day

Some of you may have heard of the popular multivitamin One-A-Day. The premise is that you need to take one every day for complete health.I’d like to take credit for it, but my wife gave me the idea of getting rid of “one thing a day” to make simplifying easier. It’s genius.

I’ve been working on simplifying my life, living frugally, and generally just enjoying life more. The concept of simplifying everything at once is daunting, and most people never make it past the first day or two. But one thing a day? Just get rid of one thing a day? Anybody can do that. Right?

So here we go. I’m going to try to post up something I’m getting rid of or simplifying every single day. More or less.

Today’s purge item: an old analog 4-port KVM Switch from my computer business days.

4-Port KVM Switch
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The Cake Is A Lie

The unspoken rules of conspicuous consumption (ripped off from bikesnobnyc):

1) You are what you “own” (or, as is more often the case, lease from a bank)
2) The more money you spend on a vehicle the more human rights you have
3) Anybody smaller and smarter than you deserves to be punished

And there you have it. Anyone still wondering why Occupy Wall Street is happening? This is why. The affluent are taught that anybody who isn’t buying the most expensive stuff they can afford isn’t “successful.” Never mind the fact that there are people who don’t want the most expensive cars and houses they can afford, or the headaches and horrendous work hours and/or ethics required to make that much money. Yes, those people exist.

What if your goal in life wasn’t to make as much money as possible? What if you simply wanted to be the best writer, or musician, or artist, or teacher you could be? What if living within your means makes you happy? What if being a “good businessman” means your family goes neglected, you compromise your beliefs daily for the sake of profit, and you think anybody else who doesn’t is stupid? If that’s success, then count me out.  What is wrong with not wanting to be rich and powerful?

Sadly, with today’s America being what it is, people aren’t being taught to be the best at what they love. They are being taught to obey, submit, conform, and surrender, and maybe someday if they’re good at bootlicking, they can achieve “success.” Sorry, but I’m not interested in that definition of success.

I read a story (in “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss) about a businessman who went to Mexico on vacation. He met a local who sat on the beach most of the day playing music with his friends, and occasionally would go fishing to earn just enough money to feed his family for a while.
The businessman told him “You should fish all day, every day, to make more money.”
“Why?” replied the local.
“So you can buy more boats, and hire people to work for you,” the businessman answered.
“Why?” replied the local.
“So you can grow a huge business, take over the market, and earn enough money to retire,” the businessman answered.
“Why?” he asked yet again.
“So you can sit on the beach all day and play music with your friends, and go fishing every now and then…”

Sadly, this is the world we live in now. It’s funny, but only because we know it’s true. What is the purpose of killing yourself trying to achieve the unachievable? What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his own soul? (I should do a review of The 4-Hour Work Week, there are some good tips there, but I think Ferriss misses the point)

By the same token, we aren’t called to hate the wealthy. Unlike most Americans, I am not envious of them, nor do I want to be like them. I feel sorry for them, because the real enemy is affluency itself. Jesus Christ himself put it this way: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

We are taught self-indulgence, when we should be practicing self-denial.

Oh yeah; Merry Christmas.

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Inconvenient Truth

I was recently involved in one of those wonderful “phone survey” calls from someone reading from a script. It didn’t take long to realize they were working for British Petrolium, and it was quite obvious the way the questions were worded that they wanted to skew the results to say what they wanted. By the end of the call, I was disgusted. It went something like this:

Them: “Who do you think is doing a better job of cleaning up the oil spill, BP, or the Federal Government?”
Me: “Neither one is going to clean up the oil, once the cameras leave, they will forget all about it and we’ll be left to fend for ourselves, just like after Hurricane Katrina.”
Them: “Sir, you must pick one or the other.”
Me: “No I don’t.”

It went on like this for a half an hour. None of the questions were really helpful, but I gave the most honest answers I could. Too bad you can’t fit opinions into “Very, somewhat, not very, or not at all satisfied.”

It made me think about the basis of our country, such as it is. It made me think about the Federal Government/Corporation. It made me think about the mega corporations that run everything now. It made me think about how much America has traded its soul for the convenience of cheap LCD TV’s. It made me think about the hypocrisy of the common person. It made me think about how people aren’t allowed to think anymore.

It makes me want to cry.

The “Inconvenient Truth” is this: we no longer own America as a country. We spend “money” that is backed by nothing tangible, to buy things we don’t really need. We eat food that is bad for us, drink water that is poisoned, take vaccines that could kill you, buy things without thinking where they come from, and take medicines that do more harm than good. We read things that serve no purpose, we watch things that reenforce amoral behavior, we listen to idiots who say what we want to hear, and gosh darn it, we’re happy about all of this. Why? Because our masters told us so. Or maybe it’s the lithium they’re planning on putting into the water supply.

People don’t care enough about anything to get involved anymore. They’d rather be comfortable, even in prison, than have to deal with doing anything on their own. They are sheep, fodder for the machine that will spit them out like so much waste when their monetary usefulness is expended. The few people that speak up against it are silenced, ridiculed, and in some cases, killed.

Is it stoppable? Not if things continue the way they are now. If you’re mad about the way the government is letting companies and lobbyists destroy our country, are you mad enough to do something about it? Are you mad enough to live intentionally, and learn about what is going on in the world around us? Are you mad enough to stop pumping money into mega-corporations for no reason? Are you mad enough to make your voice heard?

Live intentionally. Shun consumerism. Think objectively. Love deeply. Fight for justice.

Our country, and your freedom, depends on it.