The Minimalism Documentary: I Found My People

Tonight I attended a screening of the Minimalism Film: A Documentary About the Important Things.  If you haven't seen it, be sure and click on over to their website and plan to see a screening or purchase a copy.  

The film (which was my second screening, as I was lucky enough to hear the Minimalists live in Dallas last month) discusses why we should love people and use things, because the opposite never works.  There were many minimalists from tiny house residents to economists to sociological scholars extolling the virtues of a more intentional life, away from the trappings of more is better, wanting what they have, and not working to buy more and more.

Basically, the antithesis of my Texas brethren.  

As we have always believed more is better.  BIGGER is our motto (in seventh grade they taught us it was "friendship", but I think it has been reassigned).   A big house with rooms we don't use, a "butler's pantry" when no one I have ever heard of besides Batman has a butler, and yards that rival a fairway on a PGA course.  

The film didn't address Texas at all, as the filmmakers are from Ohio and live in Montana currently.  But I always think about the excess my people represent.  And why do we breed such excess?  What do we gain by having lots of stuff, especially more stuff than the neighbors?  Nothing really, but debt and storage issues. 

Think about the people you like.  Those you enjoy being around.  What were they wearing the last time you saw them?  You may have complimented it at the time, or noted it was a flattering outfit, but I bet you don't remember it.  What about their watch brand, or the version of their iPhone.  You haven't the foggiest idea.  

You like/love those people because of who they are. What they say. And how they make you feel about yourself when you're around them.  I don't want to be around people who make me feel inadequate, or that who I am isn't enough, or God forbid if my car sucks too much to even park in their driveway.  

I think the minimalists are my people because they care about what I have to say and how I feel about life and its intentions.  I like to think that Texas can do minimalism in a BIG way (like that irony, there?) because that's how we do things.  We can be examples of intentional living, of not needing twelve towels and a 5000 sf house to document our worth.   The Minimalists talk about not wanting to "convert" anyone, but merely to share their recipe and let others make it their own.  

I think my people, my Texas minimalists, can do this intentional decrapifying thing with our usual intensity and flair.