Annie Dillard loves complexity, revels in the unpredictability of life. For her, the "piebald landscape of time" is where it's at. It's what makes the world interesting to her. She enjoys the fact that, just because a bridge spans Tinker Creek one day, it doesn't mean the bridge will be there tomorrow. Complexity is our insurance that life will go on, despite any disaster.
While I get what Dillard is saying, I am not a fan of the complicated life. My life has had too many complications for too long. I prefer simplicity. I don't need a a dinner of molecular gastronomy. Just boil a pot of macaroni and add some cheese and butter to it. Maybe some Spam and peas. I will be happy with that.
Right now, at the end of the semester, my life is a little complicated. I have finished the grading for one class, and now I have moved on to the second. I have a stack of final exams to get through before tomorrow night. And there's a snowstorm blowing in from Canada. Lake effect snow watches all over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the next three days. That, for me, is life right now.
On Thursday, I will be much calmer and happier. My schoolwork for the semester will be over. I will be able to go home at the end of the day and not have to work some more. My evenings will be almost boring, and that sounds like paradise to me.
Don't get me wrong. There will still be problems to handle. It is the holiday season, after all. Problems and the holidays seem to go hand-in-hand. However, it's a different brand of problem. Simpler. Easier to fix.
So, my disciples, the word for today is "simplicity."
Say it with Saint Marty--"Simplicity."
Don't you feel better?
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| Do you really want to eat a plate of food that looks like this? |
Spam.
ReplyDeleteSpam and eggs.
Spam and toast.
Spam and spam.
It is the simple things in life, and Monty Python, that make it all worthwhile.