Principled Simplicity

Ways to be Simple

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Chapter X

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the
few who are rich" - John F. Kennedy

Procedural Simplicity

Un-uniformity in uniforms
There is a big school campus named, 'Church Park' in the heart of Chennai city. It had three schools running within its campus, namely the Sacred Heart, St. Ursula's and St. Andrews. The first school is for the rich; whose children wore a Pale Green uniform. The second school is for the middle class who wore a light blue uniform and the third one was run for the poor; whose children were identified by their brown uniform.

Nevertheless, among the common public and between the children, the parity in uniforms showcased their economic status, thus bringing an upheaval in their minds and attitudes. The management came to know of this and made a good decision of changing the uniform for all the schools into dark-green uniform, thereby bringing the parity to an end. That year the school could see a marked change in their results!

If one understands, how extravagance spoils the minds of children, we will appreciate the need to live simpler. The reason to bring uniforms in schools is to avoid disparity. If one child wears a two thousand rupees worth dress and another child wearing a fifty rupees worth dress, parity crops up. The poor child will get affected mentally and psychologically and may feel depressed where as the rich ones may become arrogant and flashy. This in turn would affect the child's morale and hence his/ her studies. Such differences may turn the child into a criminal too. Hence, uniforms were brought into practice at schools.

This? or That?
People who have insufficient earnings and who aspire to live beyond their means should read this:

This	or	That?
- Air Conditioner		- Fan
- VCD		- Tape Recorder
- Refrigerator		- Earthen Pot
- Swanky Car		- Motor Cycle, Cycle
- Palatious Bungalow		- Simple Flat

When we buy those listed above on the left-hand side, one eventually will get the following without asking for it:

Loan burden above one's head

Sleepless nights

Hidden life fearing for the creditors

Diseases due to mental pressure

Cases in court

When one tries to get all the good things in life, which are definitely beyond his capacity, he is sure to invite the problems mentioned above. Instead, if one lives with a contented life, with those shown in the right-hand side of the comparison above, we can understand that one attains:

Reasonable bank balance

Sound sleep

Walking with head held high

Healthy mind, body and soul

So it is for you to decide which path you should tread

The physical sweat is off and mental heat is on!

Once a simple man fell into the trap of lavishness. He bought all goods in his life in installments. TV, DVD, Fridge, Air conditioner, all except peace. He murmured later, “I slept well without an air conditioner before. Now, I have lost my sleep and have built mental pressure. My physical sweat is out, but the internal mental heat is ON!” Those who sold to him waited for his installments, later only to know that this man had become insolvent!

Food simplicity - 'Eat to live and don't live to eat'

Adopting food simplicity never means that you should go without food or eat less food. In fact, one out of every six of our population goes without enough food every day and we waste so much of food that should be sufficient for the needy. How are we going to fill in the gap?

Poet Bharathi sang, 'if there is not enough food for an individual, let us burn this world.' By following these daily deliberate steps, we can ensure that no man goes to bed hungry reflecting true humanity

Have standard plan of eating - one which suits your body's physical condition; you work culture, your requirement and availability. You can have choices and it need not be the mundane ones every day.
The healthy way of eating is not just to fill up your stomach, but to fill up only half of your stomach with food, quarter of it with water and leaving a quarter of it empty. You will never have any gastro-intestinal disorders.
Though I would advocate vegetarianism being the founder of 'VEG EDGE', I leave it to you to decide.
Start your meal with drinking some water.
Eat a lot of natural foods viz., fruits and vegetables and buy them locally.
Cook only enough food so that food is not wasted.
Plan your day in advance – never cook food and go out for dinner.
Never indulge in consuming off the shelf – readymade foods which are not nutritious but costly and add up to empty calories.
Try a terrace garden or a kitchen garden to produce fresh vegetables and leaves.