Reflections on Simple

Simple - I can't say it is one of my favorite words because it is so lacking in glamour, but I've seen more and more recently how much it is one of my values. My email inbox has a total of six messages right now that I am not ready to erase, and I love that simplicity.

I told a friend recently that linking "simple" with my employment was a revelation to me. It doesn't seem that simple jobs are often valued.

Upon further discussion, my friend didn't think the way I ate was simple. "Simple is opening a can," she said. This made me reflect that simple does not equal easy.

Right now it is so quiet where I sit and type this. I hear the hum of the refrigerator. The window is open and there is the occasional sound of a bird or a car, a gentle breeze, a light scent from the flowers on the table.

I just responded to an email from a friend that lives what most Americans would call a very simple life, but is it easy? Certainly not easy in what is expected in us or in our desires.

I've heard people mention recently small ways in which they did not want to be different - strands of grey in hair or compost in a back yard and I wonder about this pull - this pull towards belonging I suppose is what it is. It doesn't end at 15.

This pull towards belonging is a simple aspect of what makes us human.

And I would say that the more I feel belonging and the more I see my values reflected in people I know, the more easily I can honor those with different values and life aspirations. So what this makes me wonder right now is about the groups with such hard edges - the groups to which people can be so PROUD to belong, whether that is a nation-state or a religion or an occupation or a leisure activity - if those groups are condemning and judging another group, does this stem from a basic lack of a sense of belonging?