Less is Best

There is one fact that makes it so much easier to live a modest life and that is that the ones who have money usually spend it on things I wouldn’t want anyway.

And not only that. Because, of course, not only do they own all that stuff, and it’s collecting dust, they are also cursed with maintaining, fixing, and replacing it. Think of the time and energy going into that!

Maybe you say that these fortunate souls have other people deal with that. Well, then they will have to hire and manage them. And that’s not that much fun either.

Believe me: Small is beautiful. And less is better.

If we invested half as much money in the quality of a product as we tend to do piling up mere quantities of stuff, the world would be a cleaner and I even venture to say happier place.

All those tape recorders that never managed to play a single tape, cameras that lost ten of their nine functions in the first month, scissors that cut nothing but air and not even that very well, matchbox cars that lose their wheels faster than they lose their lacquer, and sweaters that started pilling profusely just by looking at them...

Really, what degree of satisfaction can truly be gained from designing, producing, manufacturing, buying, owning, and throwing away all that stuff?

Or maybe it’s not about satisfaction...not of the lasting kind anyway. Maybe we are too busy fulfilling some momentary craving to think about what really matters.

I for my part, however, am much happier with fewer things around me if only I knew that the big picture was all right, that the ozone layer was fat and well, polar bears had more than a couple of wobbly shoals to cling to, and the next generations could grow up knowing that life as we live it is sustainable.