Temperance – Prudence – One does not need much to be fulfilled and this is about way more than material needs. Think about it . . . we need to be warm when it is cold, cool when it is hot, dry when it rains, plus enough food and drink for healthy maintenance. A good friend is priceless. And we can read the greatest of books of and by the greatest of people till the day we lay down. It does not take much. Then think of what you can do with the added time and resources you will have. How about taking a beloved child on a “camping” trip 50 feet from the car to make s’mores?
And think, really feel, how fortunate we are to be an American, in this country at this moment in the advance of civilizations. Don’t take it for granted.
I found myself in Moscow Russia back in the latter 70’s. I was in the “uniform of the day,” a leather jacket, faded denim shirt, good boots and my trusty Levies, all of which I gave no passing thought. A young Russian boy joined me on the elevator of the Hotel Moscow; he was cruising the tourists to trade military bric-a-brac. In a flash he offered me $125 for my faded old jeans, the ones with the orange tag on the back. Turns out he could have sold them for much more on the underground market. As I recall, a good monthly salary back then was the cost of those jeans. It occurred to me much later, it was not the jeans the young lad was after, they were and are still a symbol of freedom that he could not have, which he still does not have as an old man if he is still on Russian soil.
We are so fortunate to be where a pair of jeans means more than life to others.
This is timeless advice. The hardest bit is to just do something about learning to practice temperance. Much is at stake.