>> 1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that
>> her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. (On an
>> airplane!)
>> 2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to
>> Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the
>> passport information, then she interrupted me with, "I'm not trying to
>> make you look stupid, but Capetown is in
>> ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Massachusetts."
>> 3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida
>> package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando.
>> He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that's
>> not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state.
>> 4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, "Is it possible to
>> see England from Canada?" I said, "No." She said, "But they look so
>> close on the map." (OMG, again!)
>> 5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent
>> a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had
>> only a 1-hour layover in Dallas.
>> 6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how
>> it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am got to
>> Chicago at 8:33 am. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of
>> Illinois, but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones.
>> Finally, I told her the plane
>> went fast, and she bought that.
>> 7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, "Do airlines put your
>> physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to
>> whom?" I said, "No, why do you ask?"
>> 8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii.
>> After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to
>> fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii?"
>> 9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked,
>> "How do I know which plane to get on?" I asked him what exactly he
>> meant, to which he replied, "I was told my flight number is 823, but
>> none of these planes have numbers on them."
>> 10. A lady Senator called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola,
>> Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?" I
>> asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, Fl. on a commuter plane. She
>> said, "Yeah, whatever, smarty!"
>> 11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he
>> needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about
>> passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa.
>> "Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and never had to have
>> one of those." I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a
>> visa. When I told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four
>> times and every time they have accepted my American Express!"
>> 12. A New Mexico Congress woman called to make reservations, "I want
>> to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York ." I was at a loss for words.
>> Finally, I said, "Are you sure that's the name of the town?" "Yes,
>> what flights do you have?" replied the lady. After some searching, I
>> came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code
>> in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere." The lady retorted,
>> "Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!" So I
>> scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, "You don't
>> mean Buffalo, do you?" The reply? "Whatever! I knew it was a big
>> animal."
>
> The earth is overpopulated and things will only get worse. (unless we
> change our course somehow) The more people born, the more heat is
> produced from all their cravings and the warmer and more polluted the
> earth gets and the more energy they all use.
>
> China and India are just starting to bloom with their demands for
> fossil fuels We haven't seen anything yet with the meteoric rise of
> gas and energy.
>
> In China the per capita car ownership rate is 40 car owners per 1000
> persons. In India it is much lower, running 8 cars per 1000 people. As
> these two giants evolve more of their population will want cars...in
> India, they are making a $2500 car as well.
>
>
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/05/percapita_car_o.html
>
>
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20394364/
>
> But what can one say about the problem unless people just cut back
> reproducing. Everyone has a desire to have some sex stimulation and
> through that stimulation comes more and more people. (Although in
> China they limit the children a family can have.)
>
> And everyone has a desire to keep warm when it is cold or to keep cool
> in the heat or move about the earth and wear clothes. And it is from
> all those desires that global warming fueled through the expenditure
> of fossil fuels takes place.
>
> $10 a gallon gas in the future? No doubt! All we have to do is look to
> history for the answer.
>
> When I first took notice of gas prices in the early 70's gas was .22
> cents a gallon.
>
> No one would have thought that gas would take a 1360%% rise in price in
> 3 1/2 decades.
>
> But in fairness to gas prices, they have not been as inflationary as
> California real estate, which on average has gone up about 3000%% in
> that same time.
>
> A small, flat roofed, termite eaten 2 bedroom, 900 square foot, run
> down house, with a little yard that sold for $20,000 in a dumpy area
> of town, in 1968 sells for $600,000 now.
>
> Again too many people grabbing for the same thing causes such
> craziness.
>
> Here is an old classic on the subject:
>
>
http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Popular-Delusions-Madness-Crowds/...
>
> If gas prices maintain this same trend it would put it at $42 a gallon
> in the upcoming decades.
>
> And what about everything that is delivered by truck, air or otherwise
> pegged to gas prices?
>
> Just in the last two years I saw prices of household staples go up 20%%
> to 30%%. And if they don't raise the price, they reduce the size of the
> product. (Yet the government claim inflation is next to nil...they
> must use the same accountants that Enron used!)
>
> I have no magic bullet to this problem, other than the population
> needs to be reduced worldwide. Humans are just too successful at
> reproducing.
>
> I hope we come up with sustainable alternative energy source someday
> for large scale and personal needs. Cause no matter how we slice it,
> someday all the crude oil, coal and natural gas will be depleted on
> earth.
>
> Maybe the US will be making a tradeoff with China and India?
>
> We all will be riding bicycles someday?
>
> If we wish to do our own little part in helping out the earths
> resources last longer, we can live a simple life and cut back on our
> demands a little.
>
> We seldom question if more of a "good thing" is desirable for our
> supposed happiness in life. The question, that Voluntary Simplicity
> helps answer, is the question of what IS enough so we may be happy
> right now in the present. A life of Voluntary Simplicity focuses our
> attention on the fact that "everything we own take a little piece ~
> peace of us." And in doing so, we can let go of peace and life
> destroying rituals and possessions and replace them with a contented,
> satisfied and complete life in the present moment instead of a life
> that revolves around the next thing to be acquired in hopes of
> satisfying our insatiable appetites.
>
> Greed is never satisfied by attainment - it is only satisfied by
> contentment.
>
> This orientation of conscious thought to simplify ones life in
> whatever activity the individual is engaged in is the foundation of
> success when it comes to simple living...mindfulness of our direction
> in life. Voluntary Simplicity is the tool I use to counter this desire
> to constantly expand my life with more complexities, stress and
> problems and to live within my comfortable boundaries for a serene
> life.
>
> I started with 12 step programs in 1974 to work on various addictions.
> As such, I find a less complex life very useful to my addictions
> recovery work. The 12 Step programs do actually touch on the VS topic,
> although it is not specifically called VS. Here are a couple of quotes
> that can be taken as their efforts at applying VS to one's life.
>
> ........From page 76 of the 12 & 12 of Alcoholics Anonymous........
>
> "The chief activator of our defects has been a self-centered fear-
> primarily that we would lose something we already possessed or would
> fail to get something we demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied
> demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustrations.
> Therefore, no peace was to be had unless we could find a means of
> reducing these demands."
>
> End of Quote
>
> I cannot tell you that I have no unsatisfied demands in my life; but,
> I will say that since joining the simple living movent my unsatisfied
> demands can now be counted on one hand, whereas in my prior life, I
> needed a notebook to record them all.
>
> ........Taken from pages 122-125 of the 12 & 12 of Alcoholics
> Anonymous.......
>
> "In later life he (the addict) finds that real happiness is not to be
> found in just trying to be a number one man, or even a first-rater in
> the heartbreaking struggle for money, romance, or self-importance. He
> learns that he can be content as long as he plays well whatever cards
> life deal him. He's still ambitious, but not absurdly so, because he
> can now see and accept actual reality. He is willing to stay right
> size."
>
> End of quote.
>
> I find VS to be a very important state of mind to be in. It shows
> which direction a person is pointed in with their life. The same way
> an addiction has 3 roads to go down, so it goes with VS. An addict can
> be expanding their addiction, freezing their addiction or reducing
> their addiction. A person suffering from an overly stressed or
> complicated life can be expanding the complications, freezing the
> complications or reducing the complications.
>
> Thoreau says that we need food, shelter, fuel and clothes as
> necessities. In modern times, I will add transportation to the list
> depending on your local. Everything else is pretty much optional. If
> we have these needs met and are not happy, then their is no end to our
> supposed needs for that elusive state of happiness that we seek. We
> all seem to have no shortage of supposed needs or wants as complexity
> addicts. We only want to go in one direction...more.
>
> Life does not go in one direction no matter how wealthy you are, life
> is always up and down. My goal in life prior to joining the VS
> movement was to get rich and buy anything I wanted to. My goal now is
> to live within my means, comfortably fit within my space and
> gratefully accept my current position in life. VS has contributed to
> this recovery and continues to do so each day. I make it a practice to
> wake up with VS, eat lunch with VS and to go to bed with VS the same
> way I do with my 12 step program work and without this constant
> awareness of how daily decisions affect my VS or 12 Step program, I'd
> be back on the road to my prior sick life.
>
> Do not confuse VS with the misnomer of 'Voluntary Poverty' VS is not
> about living low, it is about making choices and balanced living.
>
> You get out what you put in with VS. If you do not cut back enough on
> the complexities that rob you of living life, then all you have is
> your same complex life back that you started with. If you cut out too
> many complexities and are unhappy or bored, don't worry, you can
> always add them back. We suffer from no shortage of stress and
> complexities of living, especially if you have a family. Life gives us
> plenty of problems for free. You can even trade the complexities that
> offer no reward other than more problems for new complexities that
> offer rich rewards or good feelings.
>
> For instance, I gave up some of my computer compulsion time and put
> that time into yoga class and meditation. I started with VS in 1996
> by canceling some subscriptions to 5 business newspapers and magazines
> and pulled out about 50-60 rosebushes that we could not care for.
> After that, I saw the beneficial results and kept at it, questioning
> everything and experimenting with which complexities could be removed
> and which needed to stay in order to live a balanced life.
>
> We make what we want of VS, there are no rules other than if you do
> not do enough you do not get any results. There are no VS police to
> boss you around and tell you what is right or wrong. We have to decide
> this for ourselves as individuals. As I have said before, the program
> is the final judge of your success, not you, not me, not anyone else.
>
> A lady wrote in asking if she could be into VS and still have a gold
> chain? Yes, we can have a gold chain, we can even have 10 gold chains
> if we please. Can a person have 100 gold chains and still be into VS?
> No, I could not say with a straight face I was into VS and own 100
> gold chains. But, the person that has scaled back from owning 1000
> gold chains could definitely say they have applied VS to their
> lifestyle by cutting back from 1000 to 100 gold chains.
>
> It is all relative and all up to us and what we wish to derive from
> our efforts at simplicity.
>
> Another fellow posted how he wanted a canoe, but his wife said he
> could not have one and be a VS devotee. It is not up to others to tell
> us what we can have - our recovery or VS program will tell us. If the
> canoe would comfortably fit within a financial budget, and a person
> has the comfortable space required to store it and the object does not
> cause a person any undue harm or problems such as maintenance that
> they cannot upkeep, legal problems or rob them of time they cannot
> afford to give, I see no problem in having it.
>
> A person wrote me and asked, "Is writing your long 5 page post really
> simple living? " My response was, "Yes, writing 5 pages or even 5000
> pages is vastly superior to living the old, sick life that I used to
> live." Critics are all around us and work to tear down programs
> instead of building them up. Either our efforts at simplicity or
> recovery will promote our peace or destroy our peace - so put peace
> first. Always listen to your recovery program instead of the critics -
> it has the final say.
>
> Below are some definitions of VS from the book The Circle of
> Simplicity ~ Andrews.
>
> "For me, voluntary simplicity is living consciously, trying to
> eliminate the unnecessary, the superficial clutter. It is trying to
> live morally and ethically in the global economy by using less."
>
> "I think that voluntary simplicity as living on purpose, making sure I
> have the time to do the things I want to do, not wishing my time
> away."
>
> "I think voluntary simplicity is being true to yourself, true to the
> environment. It's finding that place for every facet of my life and
> defining how much is enough. For me it is spiritual."
>
> "It's choosing to enhance one's life by surrounding yourself with what
> really brings you fulfillment. It is defining my own standard of
> success and prosperity, community and fun."
>
> "Voluntary simplicity is balancing the realities of my life (limited
> economics, time and energy) with my values and implementing them into
> a lifestyle that is comfortable and rewarding. I think voluntary
> simplicity is an "art of living." I believe it is an art to live, to
> be true to yourself and to be open to innovation."
>
> An in-depth discussion and clarification of the term "Voluntary
> Simplicity" by Philip Slater
>
> All personal solutions to wealth addiction involve one form or another
> of what has come to be called Voluntary Simplicity. This doesn't not
> necessarily mean going "back to nature" and does not mean living in
> poverty and discomfort, although some people may elect forms of
> simplicity that would be highly uncomfortable for the rest of us.
> Above all, it does not mean forcing yourself to give up something you
> really enjoy, out of some pious conviction that it's the "right thing
> to do." Voluntary Simplicity merely means trying to rid one's life as
> much as possible of material clutter so as to concentrate on more
> important things: creativity, human survival and development,
> community well-being, play.
>
> The key word in Voluntary Simplicity is "voluntary," which means that
> the giving up of the material clutter is not coerced either from the
> outside or from the inside. As Andre Vanden Broeck observers, only
> those who have experienced affluence are in a position to have a
> "choice divorced from need." The poor aren't in a position to make
> such a choice-they are stuck with a scarcity that is neither simple
> nor voluntary.
>
> Nor is Voluntary Simplicity coerced from within, for to deprive
> yourself out of some ideological conviction is merely to feed the Ego
> Mafia. The word "simplicity" may have overtones that arouse our
> suspicions: a vaguely puritan ring, conjuring up images of drab
> smocks, self-righteousness and flagellation. But if this is in the
> spirit in which Voluntary Simplicity is embraced the result will most
> certainly be noxious.
>
> There is an old Zen story about two monks traveling together who
> encounter a nude woman trying to cross a stream. One of them carries
> her across, much to the consternation of the other. They continue in
> silence for a couple of hours until the second monk can stand it no
> longer. "How," he asks "could you expose yourself to such temptation?"
> The first monk replies, "I put her down two hours ago. You're still
> carrying her."
>
> Addiction is internal; if you experiment sincerely with Voluntary
> Simplicity and find yourself still thinking of money and possessions,
> your simplicity is a fraud and you might just as well go back to
> pursuing wealth until you've had your fill of it. To achieve its goal,
> Voluntary simplicity must be undertaken in the spirit, not of
> Puritanism or self-flagellation, but out of adventure. All adventurers
> throughout history have, after all, been people who abandoned
> comforts, possessions, love and security to seek new experiences in
> faraway places.
>
> Richard Gregg, who coined the term in 1936, once complained to Gandhi
> that while he had no trouble giving up most things, he could not let
> go of his books. Gandhi told he shouldn't try: "As long as you derive
> inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it." He pointed
> out that if you give things up out of a sense of duty or self-
> sacrifice they continue to preoccupy you and clutter your mind. To
> talk of "denying oneself" is to use the language of despotism.
> Simplicity is an affirmation, not a denial of oneself.
>
> End of quote
>
> It is always nice to have our own work confirmed by others that have
> gone before us as well as those that follow us. Many years ago I
> coined the phrase "Everything you own takes a little piece ~ peace of
> you." A couple years ago I came across Richard Gregg's original work
> on Voluntary Simplicity penned in 1936 and this is what he said on the
> subject of peace disturbance or as he termed it "SIMPLICITY A KIND OF
> PSYCHOLOGICAL HYGIENE".
>
> Taken from the original work:
>
> Pendle Hill Essays Number Three
> THE VALUE OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY
> RICHARD B. GREGG
> Acting Director of Pendle Hill 1935-36
>
> Chapter X. SIMPLICITY A KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HYGIENE
> There is one further value to simplicity. It may be regarded as a
> mode of psychological hygiene. Just as eating too much is harmful to
> the body, even though the quality of all the food eaten is excellent,
> so it seems that there may be a limit to the number of things or the
> amount of property which a person may own and yet keep himself
> psychologically healthy. The possession of many things and of great
> wealth creates so many possible choices and decisions to be made every
> day that it becomes a nervous strain.
>
> Often the choices have to be narrow. The Russian physiologist, Pavlov,
> while doing experiments on conditioned reflexes with dogs, presented
> one dog with the necessity of making many choices involving fine
> discriminations, and the dog actually had a nervous breakdown and had
> to be sent away for six months' rest before he became normal again.
>
> Subsequently, American psychologists, by similar methods, produced
> neuroses in sheep by requiring many repetitions of mere inhibition and
> action; and as inhibition is an element in all choices, they believe
> it was that element which may have caused the neurosis in Pavlov's
> dog. Of course, people are more highly organized than dogs and are
> easily able to weigh more possibilities and endure more inhibitions
> and make more choices and nice distinctions without strain, but
> nevertheless making decisions is work and can be overdone.
>
> I'll leave you with a snip of wisdom from Thoreau from his book
> Walden.
>
> "The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those
> which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had
> an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any
> monster or finished any labor. They had no friend Iolaus to burn with
> a hot iron the root of hydra's head, but as soon as one head is
> crushed, two spring up."
>
> Also
see:http://www.simpleliving.net/forums/
>
> Take care,
>
> V (Male)
>
> Agnostic Freethinker
> Practical Philosopher
> AA#2
