Simple Things

Lunch - Sept 2014

The meal was laid out before us: fresh bread, fresh vegetables, and fresh slices of cheese and meats. Served on a small table in a homemade greenhouse overlooking fields and beehives, lunch with Frøde was simple and satisfying.

One of the things that I’ve noticed and come to value most during this recent trip to Denmark is its ethos of straightforward simplicity. You see it in design where form elegantly matches function. You hear about it in policy choices were the costs of social goods (education, infrastructure, health care) are shouldered by all. You sense it in lifestyle choices, where work and life are balanced and equanimity is valued over ostentation. Through neighborhood volleyball games in the countryside and candlelit dinners on the outskirts of Copenhagen, the folks I’ve met seem to be living the good life — a simple life.

+++

After being away from the United States for several years I have a hard time adjusting to the striving and the stressing and the hoarding and the unfettered drive to consume at all costs that characterizes the dominant culture that I come from. I take pride in the fact that the physical stuff of my life has been edited down to a dozen rubbermaid bins or so. I re-establish myself in Minnesota and get settled in 650 square feet along the Mississippi, I hope that I can somehow keep it so simple.