Simple is one of the terms used by children to sometimes express their superiority over others. I remember in my own youth being called a simpleton a few times. If simple is supposed to express something uncomplicated, why did it seem to sting so bad? The other use of it, for example, was when I asked for help figuring out a math problem and my friend’s opening statement was, “Sure that’s simple!” Meaning of course that if I had a brain I wouldn’t be asking for help. Most people try to avoid the complicated, if possible, in almost every aspect of life. Simple is good. The truth of the matter is simple is probably one of the very most successful business terms an entrepreneur can have in his/her vocabulary. The ‘simpler’ that a consumer product can be manufactured and still satisfy its purpose and also have durability, the better. Consumers, generally, like simple. Products that have to be put together before they can be used probably have the highest return record. Especially if you have to read a twenty page instruction manual in order to put it together.
I sometimes hear from friends that they are just leading a simple life now that they are retired. I respond that way myself sometimes but nothing could be further from the truth. Their lives, as well as mine, are usually quite full. We have obligations to family, the church, maintaining one’s home or living space, and many retired people work part-time or volunteer part-time to keep themselves occupied or because they have a passion for something they want to be involved in.
There is a story told of a tourist who was vacationing in a Central American coastal village when he came upon a fisherman who had just returned from a day of fishing. He complimented him on his cache of fish and asked him how long it had taken him to catch that many fish. He responded that he had been out for four hours. He then asked him what he was going to do with the fish he caught, and the reply was that he feeds his family and sells the rest to the local market. The tourist advised the fisherman that if he would stay out for a few more hours and catch more fish he could make a bigger profit and eventually buy a bigger boat and hire others to help him. Sooner or later he would be able to process the fish they caught and sell his product to distant markets. The simple fisherman asked why would he want to do that? The answer was that then he could use the profit to buy an even bigger boat and catch more and more fish and eventually he would be wealthy enough that he could retire. The fisherman asked him what he would do if he were to retire? The answer was that he could then buy him a little bungalow in some quiet little coastal fishing village, and buy a little boat that he could use to go fishing when he felt like it and just live a quiet simple life. The capitalistic mind at work. The fisherman, of course, was already there, living a quiet simple life.
I think we all yearn for simplicity, but it is not the nature of most human beings. We dive headlong into a process of accumulation that naturally complicates everything. We yearn to have things, and the more things we accumulate, the more complicated life becomes and the happier many of us seem to be. In order to have things, we have to work and budget to buy those things or knowingly accumulate debt. Once we have things, we have to spend our time and energy taking care of them. Very few people know how to live a simple life, and at the same time provide for their family and themselves. Most individuals have an innate drive to improve themselves, and the things they accumulate seem to provide the best evidence that they have been successful. On writing ‘On Being Content’ (Vol I), I quoted Paul the Apostle while he was writing to the Hebrews, and he suggested, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5) I interpret that to mean the Lord values us, not the worldly things we have accumulated. Simple was good enough for the Lord while He walked the earth, and I believe that He will not judge us based on our complexity or our accumulations. Simple is good! If we can endure it!