Minimalism At It's Best (Or Worst)...

If YOUR street resembles this...you're not alone.

William of Occam, the English philosopher and theologian once said that "Entities must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary". This principle became known as Occam's (or Ockham's) Razor aka "the law of parsimony". A problem should be stated in its basic and simplest terms. In science, the simplest theory that fits the facts of a problem is the one that should be selected.

par·si·mo·ny
Pronunciation: 'pär-s&-"mO-nE (N)
From the Middle English parcimony, from Latin parsimonia, from parsus, past participle of parcere to spare
1 a : the quality of being careful with money or resources : THRIFT b : the quality or state of being stingy
2 : economy in the use of means to an end; especially : economy of explanation in conformity with Occam's razor

During this recent snow "event" (I can't even grace this storm with calling it a "blizzard" as everyone else has), I can't help but chuckle over those that all but ignore that we even had any snow at all. And I know you've seen these people...c'mon, be honest now.

When you're driving down a street, take notice to how many people have NOT cleared their sidewalks. Yo, NCE...here's a chance to kill two birds with one stone; cite those in violation AND send a message that ignorance of the law won't be tolerated. Nah, that's a bad idea. We wouldn't want to "unjustly" single out portions of the populace that way...we're too nice for that. Besides, as long as it's NIMBY, that's fine by *me*, right?

Still, how many vehicles will you see today with ONLY the windshield cleared off? Some folks MUST think that clearing all the OTHER windows off is just so much "redundancy". Those that fail to clean off the TAILIGHTS are my personal favorite.....sorry, but I'm not KRESKIN...I can't PREDICT when you're going to BRAKE, you moron!

Same goes for snow-covered license plates. Granted, these willonly last until a thaw hits, but it's at THIS particular time that people are more vulnerable to really STOOPID (sic) people! Occam's Razor never hinted at THIS, did it?

When you stop and think about all this, isn't it just a tad ironic that these people are embracing some Minimalist movement and carrying Occam's Razor to it's bastardly extreme? And they're not even aware of it.

These folks will ONLY do enough to "just get by" (most of the time anyway). If it requires additional "effort" (in any fashion)...sorry, no can do. It's like the people in grocery check-out lines that feel the need to "haggle" over every damn price, like paying what the store actually CHARGES requires that extra EFFORT I just mentioned. One CAN carry personal frugality a bit too far. And doing as little as possible in these cases is not making a case for William of Occam one bit.

Now I fully understand the concept of "Doing MORE with LESS" (with budget cutbacks, the military does it ALL the damn time), but that's NOT (exactly) what this means. What it DOES mean is that EFFICIENCY is a very important facet of ANY endeavor. It doesn't mean we sit back, do nothing, and expect things to resolve themselves, or do as little as possible, hoping that "the rest will take care of itself in due time". It DOES mean we take an active participatory part in shaping our own lives, our children, our community, our schools, our government, and our nation. As so many people have said (my Dad included)...What's worth HAVING is worth WORKING for, and what's worth working for is worth keeping. I guess that doesn't include robbers, burglars or thieves (stoopid people), correct?

(Now don't all you go run out and sign up for the damn PEACE CORPS...!)

I'm just saying that we ALL have to be involved in SOMETHING, at some time and at some place (and even with someone from time to time). America was once touted as the "Yes We Can" nation (especially in WW2), but nowadays, it's more like "No We Won't"....or (even worse)... "Let Me Get back To You On That"...

The best place to get involved in SOMETHING might be as close as the family member sitting in the same room...or that snow shovel collecting dust in the garage...or even at the ballot box. Occam's Razor simply put means the easiest solution is usually the best (and often the most correct). But take care, because by "easy" we DON'T mean clearing off ONLY your windshield...LOL!

Minimalism might work in the realm of modern art, music or even philosophy, but it doesn't have much of a place in societal values and integrity...not in these times.

Such human traits are in short enough supply as it is.