This past Friday, my little brother left for a Walden Pond trip with a group of teachers and students from his high school. So often when I think of high school summer trips, I picture disposable cameras, bus tours, and eating at Cracker Barrel. Not this one.
The packing list looked a little different. They could only take clothes that were writing and logo free, they had to take work boots, and books. Cameras, cell phones, mp3 players were forbidden (which makes for a long car ride from Michigan to Massachusetts...). Rather than buying cheap souvenirs, these kids are leaving their urban worlds and moving back a century or two in time. They are participating in farm chores, personal writing, and a whole lot of reading. Highschoolers are following Henry David Thoreau's lesson at Walden pond when he so eloquently said: "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity."
When I first heard that my little brother was going on this trip, I wondered "Why the world would anyone pay for a trip to do farm chores?!" However, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. These kids are leaving the commercial world into a life of enjoying the little things in life.
I've decided to look at my life in a more simple perspective. I can barely walk through my bedroom without stepping on clothes and old bank statements. If I didn't have all the junk I don't need, I wouldn't need to dedicate my entire Saturday afternoon to cleaning my room each week. Living simply allows a life of freedom to do the things you really want to do.
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6 comments:
When I discard or give away a book, which accounts for a lot of my possessions, I somehow feel I am saying that the person I was at the time I was so interested in that book isn't worth while. In rejecting my possessions, I sometimes feel I'm rejecting the experiences they evoke, or the people who gave them to me. My grownup son recently resolved this in part by arranging for storage and putting away boxes and boxes of books and dishes. I really do feel more comfortable with less choked walls.
Recirculating possessions is a great way to let go of objects without condemning them as worthless. Thrift shops are a boon, since they remove the decisionmaking. If I don't know someone who can use something (and I often do), and I don't want the hassle of trying to sell, and there isn't a jumble sale for some worthwhile activity, the thrift shops can recirculate things that are in good condition.
I recommend The Complete Tightwad Gazette, by Amy Dacyczyn, Villard, New York, 1998, or the original separately published collections of her self-published weekly newsletter. Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle.
How about deleting brooke.blogspot.com? It's confusing.
I apologize. That ancient blog entry belonged to a different person, also named Brooke.
I like your blog and hope you write more.
Tomorrow, I have got to get organized!
Would love to go back in time. Thanks for dropping by!
Hi, I'm the boy of "el rincon del capi xumilla" and I want to meet people, and when I read your article, I want to meet you more.
The simplicity is a dificult something in this world, because each day we move away little by little from her, I think than a bit of simplicity, we can finish with some problems of the world, but Who am I to say that the resolution of the most serious problems this one in them simpler of the human being?
Kisses
posdata: No soy un ecologista radical, ni nada parecido, solamente quiero un mundo mejor para mi, en el que pueda mezclar lo que me gusta, con lo que más quiero y deseo.
A last thing, my mesenguer is xumy397@hotmail.com
bye kisses
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