Things – Sunday, August 22, 1982
In a world where most of us are bombarded with thousands of commercial messages each year, we may begin to think the highest purpose for our existence is to consume. After all, we’ve been reminded of the many ways we can smell sweeter, drive faster, eat more conveniently, relax on newer furniture and save money by spending it now. Some of us have learned to believe what we have is never enough and in an economy where so many pocketbooks are growing thinner, the resulting tension between what we think we need and what we can afford may result in unhappiness.
But Benjamin Franklin said, “There are two ways of being happy: We may either diminish our wants or augment our means—either will do—the result is the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and that which happens to be the easiest. If you are idle, sick or poor, however hard it may be to diminish your wants, it will be harder to augment your means. If you are active and prosperous or young or in good health, it may be easier for you to augment your means than to diminish your wants. But if you are wise, you will do both at the same time, young or old, rich or poor, sick or well; and if you are very wise you will do both in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society.”1
Now those who seek to augment their means will find it an individual journey, each path different according to a person’s talent, opportunities and energy. But there are some similarities for all of us in learning to diminish our wants. We need to understand that diminished wants do not make a diminished life. Wanting less may not lower our standard of living, but actually increase it.
Too many of us focus our existence on earning, acquiring, spending and consuming.
We use up our time getting things and then maintaining them, finding a place to store them, fixing them when they break down, guarding them against theft and then upgrading them when a newer model comes out. Stuff…is that the measure of life, letting stuff fill up our hours and then our hearts?
Perhaps instead we should be like the man who said he had more than Carnegie or Rockefeller. “How’s that?” asked a friend. “Because I have all I need and they always wanted more,” he answered. Let us simplify our wants and then our lives, throwing open the windows of our souls to let a clean, sweet breeze flow through. Let us learn to evaluate what we think we need under a stricter standard. Will this really enhance my life? Is it worth the financial tension it will cause? Can I do without it?
None of us really want to spend our precious hours on earth primarily on things that will yellow, age, break down or end up in the city garbage. We only pass this way once and there are finer things to do.
1 “Debt, Money and Such Matters” Richard Evans’ Quote Book, Publishers Press, Salt lake City, Utah p. 226
_____________________________________________
August 22, 1982
Broadcast Number 2,766