Beware the simple man, he isn’t. I would like to think of myself as just a simple man. One that enjoys simple pleasures, uncomplicated relationships and has simple needs. Sounds nice, sort of takes you in, in this complicated world. But it is pretty much B.S. when you hear a fellow say “I’m just a simple man”. When I hear that I think, Ya, sure you are, what other crap are you going to try to feed me? The days of the simple men are gone and I’m not sure they ever were.
If your only conveyance is walking, you don’t have a cell phone and you still believe that networking is personally shaking hands and verbally making commitments to go cane pole fishing, you may be a simple man. Otherwise, don’t bull shit me, you ain’t a simple man.
I am tempted to quote a few Henry Thoreau Walden Pond quotes here but I’ve read Thoreau, the quintessential simple man , even his writings of the experiences at Walden are not simple concepts. After living the simple life for over 2 years he said, ‘How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live’. His good friend was Emerson, he owned the cabin and beach front where Thoreau lived isolated on that 60 some acre lake. I’ve read a little of Emerson, also. I can’t imagine two more complicated minds or hear those two men having any simple conversations. Maybe fascinating but never simple.
Even if you were a simple man living a simple life, you would still have bee stings, snake bites and illness that could topple your sublime easy-going lifestyle. It is hard for me to rationalize that a wilderness style of life of the 1840’s could be a simpler more relaxing life than what I live right here in 2014. If Henry thought city life of the 1840’s was too complicated, what would he think of our lives of the 2010’s? He would think our lives were pretty damn easy. Life of the 1800’s was a bitch. Life expectancy for a man was about 45 years. You couldn’t walk across the street without stepping in a pile of horse manure. I would have wanted to live on Walden Pond, too if I lived in that era. My grocery store is close and amply stocked. I have central heating and cooling. And I can’t say enough about sliced bread and indoor plumbing. Even though I have to work and occasionally interact with sometimes difficult people, my life is easy. Although I live in a very modern and complicated time, acquiring my basic needs have been much easier than it would have been 170 years ago. I like my conveniences and can’t say that I am a simple man just because I have few material needs or wants. The only horse crap I have to avoid is the crap spewing from the mouths of the men claiming to be simple men living in a complicated world.
No, men that say they are a simple man are only yearning to be one. Simple man want-a-bes aren’t yearning for a simpler wilderness life or simple conveniences or relationships. They are really just crying out for a quiet peace of mind. They want their thoughts to calm for a while. They have ideas, inventions, books, poems, paintings, new buildings or law suits running through their heads all day. They want a break. A truly simple man wouldn’t realize he was living a simple life. It is a Catch 22. Like a man who is smart enough to know that if he keeps flying he will die isn’t crazy if he asks the doctor to ground him. A truly crazy man wouldn’t be sane enough to know he was crazy or to ask to be grounded but in order to be grounded all he had to do was ask. A Catch 22,” it’s one hell of a catch that Catch 22″. The same with a simple man. You will never know a simple man because when you have a quiet mind there is no reason to tell anyone and there is no reason for anyone to ask..
Such is the life of John