Having Less

When I was growing up, I would get really excited buying gifts for my parents. Of course, at that time I realized that the money I used to pay for the gifts was the same allowance that my parents gave me. I looked forward to the day when I would be able to afford something from the money that I myself earned. Ironically, the older I got the more difficult it was to look for something for them not because their tastes got more expensive but because it seemed that they needed less.

I even noticed that more and more I also want to acquire less. There was a time when it seemed as if only having more clothes or the latest fashion could ever satisfy me. Except that after a while I realized that I could never get enough. And then suddenly, it stopped to matter to me. Which is not to say that I’ve given up all my worldly possessions and started living in a hermitage. But brands no longer matter as much; being thought as fashionable no longer seems like such a compliment; acquiring stuff is no longer as important.

I wonder if this is a product of growing up or if it is a product of being more conscious of choosing to live a simpler life. Either way, being freed from some forms of material attachment has been very liberating. For one thing, I am not possessed by my possession. When I was a lot younger, I would get really frustrated to the point of distraction when I would lose something. These days if I find something missing, I still feel the initial instinct to rant and rage over the injustice of having something taken away from me; I’ve just learned not to give in to it.

I realize, however, that the challenge isn’t merely to own less but also to give more. Our freedom from material attachment should serve a more productive purpose. That is, to allow others to live better. While it is true that we are called to live in simplicity, we’re also called to help alleviate poverty. This is something that I’m still working on.

Some of the most generous people I’ve met have also been the ones who had the least. In fact, these people give so much of what they have even when they have so little to begin with. They are completely like the widow in the Gospel. She who had the least gave all that she had, while those around her who had more gave only a portion of their gifts. A simple, generous heart has as much to teach us today as it did 2000 years ago.