Sometimes, less is more...

I recently discovered The Simple Living Network. As the name implies, it talks about living simply, including topics such as deciding when you have 'enough', frugality, the environment, etc. -- a whole bunch of things that really resonate with me.

In particular, I read one man's story that really impressed me. You can read the whole story in his own words, but I'll quickly summarize one aspect of it here.

Morally opposed to the war in Iraq, he abhorred the thought that his tax dollars would go towards fighting that war. So, in 2003, when it became clear that the US was going to go into war, he asked his company for a 75% pay cut, so he could be below the 'tax line' -- i.e. so that his income would become so low that he would not be obliged to pay taxes. His company could not grant him his request, citing how this would look suspicious in the books. So he quit. And since then, he has been self employed, doing some contract work, and writing books.

He discovered that he could be below the 'tax line' if he earned up to $30,000 a year and put $14,000 of that away in tax shelters (e.g. retirement, health savings accounts). This left him with $16,000 a year to live on--a far cry from his previous $100,000 salary at his former job.

The things he discovered through this drastic lifestyle change were insightful. For example, his lower income meant that he couldn't eat at restaurants as often as he used to. But he found that for the price of one fancy restaurant meal, he could make a whole week's worth of fancy meals at home. And since quitting his full time job, including its daily commute, he had the time and energy to buy the ingredients, learn the recipes, cook and enjoy these meals.

Although his choice to quit his job did not make him rich, it made his life so much richer.

The Waterskiing Principle

When talking about community development and big projects, Muhammad Alshareef has used this analogy to water-skiing.

When you start water-skiing, you float in the water in your life jacket and skis, holding on to the rope attached to the boat. At this point, most of the rope is beneath the surface of the water, you don’t see it. Then, the boat starts pulling the rope taut and you still don’t see it. But you know it’s getting pulled, although you still don’t feel it. And then suddenly you feel the pull of the rope and you’re pulled up on your skis (or in my case you fly in the air and fall on your face in a big splash).

Often, when you’re doing community work, you won’t see the results right away. You keep working and working and nothing seems to be happening. It’s like the boat that’s pulling the rope under the water. Nothing seems to be happening. But underneath the surface, the rope is being pulled and it’s just a matter of time before it gets pulled taut and you’ll be pulled up on your skis (and hopefully not fall on your face in a big splash).

It's all good...

I heard this story in class once...

There was once an African king who had an adviser. The adviser was well known for his positive attitude. His favourite phrase was "It's all good..."

The king and his adviser were best friends. They were out hunting one day when the king's gun malfunctioned and there was a huge explosion.

"My adviser friend! I lost my thumb!" The king exclaimed, as blood gushed from his hand.

"It's all good..." the adviser replied, helping the king.

"How can you say that?! I just lost my thumb. You're so insensitive! I'm still your king, you know! If you weren't my best friend I would kill you! I sentence you to jail!"

The king sentenced his adviser to jail.

A year later, the king decided he would go hunting again. Alone. When he was in the jungle, he was ambushed and captured by cannibals. They took him to their village and prepared to sacrifice him. Before they could sacrifice him, they needed the priests to bless the sacrifice. When the priests inspected him, they were shocked to find that he was missing a thumb. This was a bad omen for them. The priests told the cannibals that their sacrifice was unsuitable so they released him.

The king was immensely relieved. And then he thought of his adviser friend and was overcome by guilt. He went directly to the dungeons himself, told his friend about the incident with the cannibals and released his friend from jail.

"I'm so sorry, dear friend," he said to his adviser.

"It's all good..." his friend replied.

"How can you say it's all good, you just lost a year of your life in jail because of me!" the king insisted.

"It's all good," the adviser replied "If I hadn't been in jail, they would have eaten me!"