Category Archives: Simple Life

Old Men and a Young Woman

Beauty, Friends, Philosophy/Ideas, Simple Life, Truth and Beauty, World of ideas

 

There was striking scene described by Daniel Klein in his marvelous book Travels with Epicurus. And it involved 4 old men.

 

On another day on a terrace overlooking the Aegean Sea . The 4  friends were enjoying the beautiful warm day and each other. They were “chatting amiably.” But then, something happened.

 

“Then quite abruptly, they all go quiet.  To a man, they are all gazing up at the top of the stone stairs that lead down from the coast path and past the taverna’s terrace. A young woman has appeared there and the wind is pressing against her blouse and skirt and her spending voluptuous body.”

 

Now we know why all the old men are paying so much attention. They may be old but can still appreciate such beauty. Klein continues,

 

“For a moment, she pauses there, perhaps enjoying the warm breeze, but more likely enjoying the effect she is having on the men looking up at her—her personal sirókos effect, indulgence…The young woman is named Elena. She is nineteen years and is a classic Greek beauty with jet-black hair; clear, light olive skin; and large dark, flashing eyes…The old men unabashedly keep their eyes on Elena as she and her grandmother draw near to where they are sitting. When Elena and the old woman are directly in front of them, all the men rise slightly from their chairs and greet them. While saying” “Good Day,” Tasso [one of the men] offers an elegant bow from his none-too supple waist. It is clearly a bow of admiration and gratitude for Elena’s beauty.”

 

The men settle down and start talking about the beautiful women they have known. These are not dreams. These are memories. The memories of old men. Old men can do that. That is what they have.

The men are not dirty old men. They are appreciative and wistful. They still appreciate beautiful women as they did when they were young. They don’t have to be voluptuous either. They know that this is all there is to it and they appreciate her. And they appreciate themselves. They are old. They know that. They are not angry about that. They are wistful, as I said, but accepting.

They can still appreciate the beauty of old women too. And even—believe it or not—old men. Beauty is by no mans confined to the young. At least so I believe, being an old man myself. “Truth is beauty and beauty is truth,” as John Keats said. But it is not just the beauty of youth. Old age too can be beautiful. Old men and old women no longer look like they did in the spring time of their lives, but what they have is still real too. Different but real.

No point in striving for what is gone. That is what counts.  Enjoy what you can. It is holy too.

Garbage Guru

2024 Trip to Southwest USA, Simple Life

 

 

On our second day in Arizona we attended to urgent business. We went for supplies including Costco and then refreshments from Total Wine where we passed a man wearing T-shirt that read, Garbage Guru.  What is a garbage guru?

Since I had no idea when I got home, I checked with he who knows everything. Professor Google.

I found there were a few people or organizations who claimed the title. The most interesting one I found was the was one from New York City.  Ms. Nagle the New York Sanitation Department’s very own anthropologist-in-residence going by the name of Nats.  Nats is a garbage guru who studies garbage in the largest city in America. She pointed out, quite fairly, that we (all of us not just New Yorkers) are part of a throw-away culture where few people pay any attention to our stuff that we throw out. We don’t pay attention to the consequences of just throwing everything away.

As Nats said, “we are also therefore creating a kind of waste stream that will probably outlive even our children’s children because plastic in particular is such a new product, such a new chemistry, in human history, we don’t know it’s half-life.” Her position with the City is actually honorary. I found that a bit disappointing.

She is actually a professor  at New York University who spends a lot of time looking at garbage. She reminds me of this guy who used to regularly go through Bob Dylan’s garbage and then report on it to his legions of fans. Even though I was a big Dylan fan, I did not think this would be worth a lot of time.

Speaking to a bunch of sanitation workers at a workshop, Nats explained to them, “I will also make clear to you that it is far more dangerous than being a cop or a firefighter. According to the bureau of labor statistics you are three times more likely to be killed in the line of duty as a sanitation worker.”

Who would have known that?

 

Decline of Ancient Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert

2018 Trip to Southwest USA, 2023 Grand Finale Tour, Climate change, desert, Environment, Indigenous People before Contact, Simple Life

 

At Casa Grande Arizona, a steel and concrete canopy was built in 1932 to protect what remained of the Great House from the elements.

As I mentioned earlier  the great puzzle is why were these magnificent structures and elaborate towns abandoned in favor of smaller communities after about 1450 C.E.

Some have speculated that some catastrophe caused the people to leave. There is evidence that the area experienced significant floods between 1300 and 1450.  Those were followed by intense periods of drought. Severe climate change in other words.

Archeologists use multiple kinds of evidence to answer such questions, or at least shed some light on the questions posed. As a result, they have been studying salt discharge on the Salt and Gila rivers, as well as the increasing soil salinity, diseases, and evidence of malnutrition. It is likely that environmental conditions changed and the Ancestral people of the Sonoran Desert (formerly Hohokam people) did what all smart people do, they adapted to changed conditions. That is how people survive. That is a lesson we moderns are beginning to experience. How will we adapt is not so certain.

The evidence does show that the extreme flooding deepened the Gila River Channel making it more difficult for canals to carry water to fields where water levels were low. Part of the canal system was abandoned while other parts were extended miles upstream to maintain proper water flows. Around 1350 C.E., the time of the Great House, a combination of factors may have triggered a breakdown of Hohokam society and undermined their leadership.

It is probable that as a result of all of these factors, the survivors of the floods and droughts abandoned large sites like Casa Grande in favor of smaller settlements along the Gila River. Today’s O’odham people believe that they are the descendants of the Hohokam people. As a result, Hohokam society never disappeared it just adapted and changed to a lifestyle that was better suited to the changed conditions. This change was likely to one more similar to their ancestors. They changed to a simpler life. Perhaps that is what we will be compelled to do.

There is a lot to be said for a simpler life.

Sacred stuff

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Simple Life

 

One thing that really struck me as we saw Arizona for the first time in 3 years was the large number of new storage places.  A few years ago these were extremely rare. Now they are ubiquitous. Everyone in Canada and the United States needs extra storage space. Even though house sizes had doubled in size in the last couple of decades while family sizes shrunk, people needed more storage space.  This is the product of a society enamoured of stuff. Devoted to stuff. As a result, we have a society of stuff. Sacred Stuff.

 

I have also noticed in the neighbourhood that everyone seems to have a truck. A huge truck on the driveway. Is that because they can’t get it into their garage. Is it too big for the garage? Eventually I learned that many of the garage were stuffed with stuff! Huge mounds of stuff inside garages. I was too shy to photograph them. What would people think?

Chris and I know a person in Winnipeg who is a hoarder. Really a hoarder. Her house we have heard is stuffed with stuff. No one is allowed in to see the state of the house for she is too embarrassed. But recently she had a problem.  Her heating system was malfunctioning so she had no heat in her house. That is a pretty big problem in Manitoba in winter. But she did not want to allow anyone to come into her house. She refused to allow any worker to come in to fix the furnace. Therefore she lived in a house in Manitoba without heat in January! That is insane. That is more insane than having a house stuffed with junk.

Here in Arizona, I have seen many garages filled with stuff. As a result their vehicles are left on their driveway permanently even though that is very tough on tires in the desert sun. Why do people have so much stuff they can’t use it? These often are not rich people. But they are dysfunctional people.

Is that not a sign of spiritual decline?