my friend hank

I met Henry Thoreau when i was 12.

OK, I never met him in person. Shucks, many of my best friends I never actually met.

Any way, as I read Thoreau, I read of a way of life (not too much different than what my parents lived, though that was not necessarily their choice) that was full, rich, simple, and not really lacking much that was really important.

Thoreau never married, and he died quite young. Had he lived long and had a wife and a family, I wonder what he might have said. Of course, one can only guess.

For a long time there has been a movement, way below almost any one’s radar, described as “Voluntary Simplicity.” Outwardly poor, but inwardly rich. It was a call to look beyond what some one else says is important and to instead work at something I (or we) think is important.

I like the idea. I like it a lot. Shucks we don't have to keep up with the Jones, we can BE the jones that we keep up with

Our society have had a period of artificial prosperity, it seems, when we all lived higher than we should. Now we are being a lot more careful.

That is good for us as individuals, but all of that stuff we bought that we did not need provided work for a lot of good people, some of them my neighbors and friends. How will all of this sort out in an era of universal belt tightening.

My actions affect more than just me, but I do have to look after me first.

And there has to be a better way on this one too.