small is beautiful
“Ever bigger machines, entailing ever bigger concentrations of economic power and exerting ever greater violence against the environment, do not represent progress: they are a denial of wisdom. Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful.”
- E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered, 1973 London
What has happened to us? We’re all fixated on the most, the biggest, the best. We want bigger and better lives, but we end up settling instead for bigger TVs, bigger vehicles and bigger houses. We pave over natural wetlands to make room for our big suburban developments where we think maybe those bigger and better lives might play out.
It seems an unyielding imperative that our cities keep spreading and bulldozing in the name of generating more jobs, more units, more condos and more revenue for those same cities to spin back into developing, expanding and encompassing even more.
Where’s the plan? Where’s the vision? There was one, but it seems it’s been waylaid by progress. A variance here, a rule broken there, a plan and a vision forgotten. We watch and whine and pretend it’s all going to be okay. And it probably will be okay – for us.
But what about our children. This relentless push for progress will cost them dearly. We are using up all the resources. Cutting down and paving over every scrap of nature we can sell, gut and redo. We are getting bigger and bigger and our shadow looms over the near future like a giant poisonous-gas-filled blimp.
We are the generation that has sat by while the 1% have become “the best destroyers of all time”, impoverishing people and the planet like never before. (George Monbiot, p.19, The Guardian Weekly, 18.11.11.)
When will we get wise? Before it all explodes or after?
It’s amazing how little we really need, to be content in this life. The problem is, we want what we want. Will we ever think small, think gentle, think beautiful? Will we ever stop feeding the consumer and corporate machines that shove our desire for more down our throats by telling us exactly what it is we should be eating, wearing, caring about and buying?
Isn’t one gift at Christmas enough?
If not, why not? Why shop ’til you drop? Why stress and fret and over spend? Bring yourself back down to size. Think small. Teach your kids something else. Get sentimental about life, about nature, about your loved ones — not about buying a bunch of stuff that no one needs. Don’t get sucked into some endless black monday that spins into boxing day and then becomes an interminable cycle of gift-giving (aka shopping) imposed upon you by a bunch of “shoulds” from Wall Street and beyond? It’s time to throw a monkey wrench into the old escalator and jump off this crazy ride.
Small is beautiful. Small cities mean a greater sense of connection, ease of movement and self-sustainability. A small house, a small car, a small Christmas are all easier, more affordable, more peaceful and more spacious. Small means you have time and space for the lovely in life.
Even if you were not one of those who ventured downtown and held up a sign during the occupy movement, maybe you too believe it is time to challenge the status quo, to reign in corporate greed and to choose wisdom over progress at all costs. Maybe you can begin by acting as if all that you do matters and by realizing that small is also beautiful. Start at home and let the wisdom spread from there.
Here’s wishing you a small holiday season sprinkled with ease, beauty and love.
14 Responses to “small is beautiful”
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Amen! My husband and I don’t plan to have kids, but there are little ones in my life that I love, and I will be teaching soon, so I am constantly wondering… are they going to hate us? And if they do, they will be pretty justified, because look at what we are leaving them to deal with and to try to survive… I watch friends who have kids who don’t recycle, who waste, waste, waste, and I just wish they would make the connection between loving their kids and taking care of the world that their kids depend on for life.
Side note: The best gifts we can give kids aren’t things, they’re traditions and connections and family and love… but that seems get lost in the consumer rush every year…
I am so glad I’m doing the small. And yes it is very lovely.
I took some courage over the last year to get here. But it was well worth it and I just cannot imagine going back to the bigger, better more. It hurts to watch those I love do it and create stress and lack of joy in their lives.
Enjoy the beautiful small and the lovely!
SO true, always faster, bigger, more and more
we will get ourselves confused by more!
Noch
Katie for President! I couldn’t agree with you more Katie. The whole world is out of control. My mantra is: All I have is all I need. It’s proven to be true more often than I can count.
Thanks for shedding light on this!
b
I totally agree with all of this. In my years on earth, I have lived in the middle of Boston and Manhattan and, more recently, a half hour from towns that don’t even have a stop sign. And I love the latter by far. It’s funny how disconnected people are from each other and their environment in larger cities where there are so many people so close together, physically. And the connections between people in rural areas are so tight and friendly.
I’m raising my 3 children to love and honor their environment by living in the woods, appreciating the little things like a bird landing close by and a deer or fox walking past the house, by recycling, composting and growing their own food, etc.
I think it’s too little too late to turn the scythe of “progress” around. Our children will live in a very different world than what we know today.
Unfortunately, I feel like I’m in the minority of people choosing to live like we do. It’s so awesome to read blogs like this and know that this minority is growing. More power to you, Katie, and all of your readers!!
Thank you for this post, Katie ~ a sad, true, and timely reminder of what society’s ‘bigger is better’ mentality actually costs our planet and our fellow man. Though I will participate in my in-law’s gift-exchange this season (and initially felt uncomfortable at the thought!), I’ve determined to see it as an opportunity for doing things differently.
So, instead of mass-produced gifts, I’ll be offering my time (in the form of babysitting), my best work (my book) and gifts that I can be excited about purchasing and sharing (original art from an up-and-coming artist on the autism spectrum). Your post re-energizes me to keep thinking creatively and to keep living small!
small is beautiful, perhaps because it focuses our attention rather than dividing it.
Great post! I couldn’t agree more. I hope more people realize the power they hold in their hands to create the change they are seeking. They just need to make the connections that are right in front of them.
small is beautiful because small is more condensed
Katie – yes! Smaller is beautiful. I’d rather have one exquisite moment of happiness than miles of mediocrity.
Thank you, Katie ~
I needed your community this morning.
Have yourself a happy little Christmas <3
Love,
Jane
Hi Katie
(man I love your writing!)
I agree with you that small is beautiful. I live in a small house, G & I drive very old small cars and as you know I take small continuous steps in life. So I’m a fan of Small is Beautiful.
I’m typically very quiet about politics. But I will say that I didn’t hold up an occupy sign. I’m not 100% certain, but it seems people are angry at big corporate rather focusing on their personal power. Protesting is being a voice of a fight, rather than really digging deep and finding one’s own empowered way. Again, this is why I stay quiet about politics – since I usually don’t agree with with my own genre.
Wishing you a magical holiday and new year!!
Hi Katie,
You make a wonderful point in your post. I especially like this line – “Small means you have time and space for the lovely in life.” We have in so many ways let things take over our lives, and have lost in the process the beauty of just everyday living. It’s difficult once you’ve let that genie out of the box, to rein in back in. I agree those that are going to suffer are our children, and they are feeling it now. The greed has destroyed the economy and many hopes for the future. We hopefully will learn our lesson, and I do believe there is a movement to live in a more meaningful way, but it all takes time.
Thanks again for sharing a well written post. Happy Holidays!