Thursday, August 7, 2008

simply complicated

The simple things in life are the most satisfying. Most fulfilling. Most rewarding. Most...gratifying.

A bed of your own. A few dollars to buy dinner. Friends that are friends no matter the time or distance that dares to separate your kindred souls. Soap. Running water. A pillow. A clean pair of your favorite underwear.

It sounds so trite. But you try it. Try living a day or two with a couple or all of these things missing. How much more would you appreciate them when they return?

Money can make things so much easier. But that is all. Easier. Not necessarily better. How do you define better? Sure you can pay your bills, and buy food with money- all systems that have been set up around trade. But is life 'better' the more you have? Better, a value judgment, is only a matter of perspective.

I often wish that I had more money. Pay off my debt, fix and get new tags for my car, get a professional wardrobe, book a flight in oct, pay for UHLS, buy new dance shoes . . . the list goes on. But you know what? That is only going to happen when my effort is 110% every singe day. And those things that I want to get with my money are just that, things. While my car does give me great joy, and I love her dearly, she too will pass.

Is life simply getting easier and easier? Are we moving into an age where the ease of computers and the technologies that fuel an automated society literally do 'everything' for us? I would hope that in our grounded humanness that it is not so. Are just in a giant circle of evolution? Will we eventually self-destruct in our own greed to always have more and care less? Stepping back to look at the overarching direction of "us" is . . . overwhelming.

Do you want your life to be easy? Easy, to me, does not infer a sense of accomplishment. Easy, is a moment in time that quickly blends into the next to become part of your forgotten past.

Seven lanes of flashing white lines framed by glittering skyscrapers. A bold and elegant skyline. Driving through downtown at night has always been a secret favorite of mine. One of the simple things.

What are yours?