I am a white male who has reached his senior years. The facts of the matter of my existence are simple; however the way a person like me is portrayed on social media and elsewhere is often complex. Because I am white, others take the liberty to assume that I am a racist. Because I am a male; others take the liberty to assume that I hate women. Because I am a white male; others take the liberty to assume that I have privileges which I should denounce. And so on.
The truth is simple. I am a drop in the pond nothing more and nothing less [see photo]. But my simple droplet has created waves [some good and some not so good] that have slowly dissipating as they have run on all the way to the shore. For example, as a young man I influenced public policy in ways that resulted in settings that are still in effect. I also twisted the minds of undergrad, and post-grad, students into pretzels and left them to untangle them. For my sins I helped to elect governments. And so on.
Today I cast an extremely small carbon footprint onto this Earth: not because I am committed to a carbon neutral world; but, because I am a minimalist. As a minimalist I travel light through life. Accordingly I take pride in the fact that I do not belong to any type of religious cult, ideological tribe, nor display any preordained ways of thinking. Instead I acknowledge that evil lurks here, there, and everywhere - in thought, deed, and aspiration. Indeed at present I feel trapped in an era of history that is driving sane people mad. I feel oppressed by the rules that others make on the fly. I feel tormented by the knowledge that this is not how human life must be.
As a minimalist I attend to my needs not to other people's wants. Of course I am aware of the suffering and hardship being inflicted on others by themselves and their new overlords; but, there are billions of such people in the world today and so I feel helpless to save them all from their presenting misery. As I write this I know it might sound callous to my reader but it is the truth. Gone are the days when I aspired to help my nation address all its ills. At that time I thought my effort was much needed; but, today I see a great deal of what I believed was genuine progress being unwound or ignored. And so today I tend to my needs and wherever applicable to those of my family.
Perhaps I should end by acknowledging that a minimalist is a person who uses his or her expansive mind to conjure up robust thoughts; these thoughts are then translated into resilient habits; and eventually these thoughts and habits are grounded in strong beliefs. The strongest belief I hold today is that I must focus on needs not wants. For example, if I need to address the impact of 7.5 Billion humans on Climate Change then I must limit my personal carbon footprint. If I need to address the impact of anti-family public policy settings around the world then I must treat my familial with care, civility, and generosity.
Richard.
Comments