“If you can narrow down your sense of need, you can buy yourself an incredible amount of freedom.”
There was an article in the New York Times Magazine last week, “The School of Wants and Needs — and Wood-Fired Showers” about a private secondary school in central California where elemental needs like food, light, and heat are provided by student work as part of a curriculum put forth back in 1932 when the founder, the article notes, declared “that he wanted to create an institution free of the clutter that comes from affluence and the need to keep up with whatever everyone else has or does.”
But it’s that quote at the end of the article, about the reward of narrowing down one’s sense of need, taken from a teacher who spent a few years on a sailboat with his family that really stood out to me. Its reference is “stuff,” and the value of living with less of it. That’s how you sail the world.
But it occurs to me that narrowing down one’s sense of need for external validations and affirmations could be another way to think about how to access freedom. I have a feeling that’s how you sail through the world.
Of course, the key is thinking about to what you do and don’t want to be tied. As Janis Joplin sings in one of my favorite songs, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”
Another Halloween has come and gone! I feel like I say this every month, but I can’t believe it’s November already!
Our friend who hosts everyone for a trick-or-treat party on Halloween night remarked that while some holidays are getting out of hand, he’s totally into the escalation of Halloween. I’m on board with that, too. I love seeing everyone out in costume. This year, they finally closed off the streets in downtown to traffic and it was awesome how many people came out.
Here are just a few photos of our family costumes and a couple I snapped of others…
I cannot resist a beautiful old copy of a classic children’s story, and I’ve collected tales that my daughters can grow into for years. Of course, there is the element of cozy nostalgia, delicious memories of listening to the hum of my own mom or dad’s voices right before bed; but I love what these old collections immediately open up for my children as well.
For example, we have officially finished P.L. Traver’s entire Mary Poppins series, and there were all sorts of interesting conversations to be had, centered around English culture, a different time period, and unfamiliar vocabulary. It is amazing to see that mental and cultural expansion applied—the girls more easily understood Barrie’s Peter Pan, and were prepared for even deeper conversations as we began The Secret Garden. Last year, when we visited London for several nights, they pointed out Big Ben and the River Thames, able to name them from our story times. Naturally, some of the ideas are beyond their current level of understanding; but it is at least an introduction to something new and different.
Similarly, Ashley mentioned to me that, before their family’s trip to Sweden, she was excited to read Pippi Longstocking to her children, just to be in touch with the culture they would be visiting. As she discussed this with others, someone recommended that she also look into the Alfie Atkins books, stories that most children growing up in Sweden would have been very familiar with.
That sparked the question: What other books are specific to certain cultures? Would it be Peter Pan, or Mary Poppins for children growing up in England?
