Coco Calling No.318 - When Less is More

My owner and his wife have recently returned from a great migration. (And the very fact that you have continued to receive blogs while they’ve been away proves that I really am a parrot genius who writes his own material!)

Being the strange humans that they are, they decided to swop the high temperatures of our hottest Summer on record for the freezing cold climes of the high Arctic. Yes, they went to Greenland for two weeks and visited some of the tiny communities that live up on the west coast. So instead of heatwaves, they had icebergs and glaciers and sea ice and snow. They were able to see (at a distance) both polar bears and musk ox and get to meet some of the Innuit families that exist on next to nothing. In this part of the world, the winter temperatures regularly fall to -40C or even -50C. The tanker bringing oil comes just once a year, while the supply ships bringing everything else are but a once in six months event. And somehow, these humans live in tiny wooden shacks and depend upon fishing and hunting for their survival. Their existence is stripped down to the bare minimum.

And that was very evident when my owner and his wife called in on a family in a place called Savisivik to have morning coffee with them. Inside the shack, there was none of the complex gadgetry that you find in U.K. homes. There was no TV, no radio, no kitchen paraphernalia, no vacuum cleaner and no telephone. No, there was just a sofa, a small table and an oil stove. Outside, there was a collection of sled dogs, a canoe and a small boat. And that was about it.

The family were very friendly and hospitable, and some of their most precious possessions were displayed on their living room walls. There were lots of family photos (all unframed) along with a crucifix. The same was true in the other homes that they visited in the northern part of Greenland. Family and Jesus are at the very heart of these Innuit communities. In fact, more than 95% of Greenland’s Innuits profess to be Christian, and their tiny churches are always packed whenever a service takes place. And this proved to be a real eye-opener for my owner and his wife. Because by having less, these folk were able to stay focussed on what really matters in life. And perhaps there’s a lesson there for all of us, -parrots included.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

(Confucius: [C.551-C479BC]: Famous Chinese philosopher and sage).

“Finding a way to live a simple life is one of life’s supreme complications.”

(T.S. Eliot: [1888-1965): American born British poet, essayist and playwright).

“Christ never was in a hurry. There was no rushing forward, no anticipating, no fretting over what might be. Each day’s duties were done as each day brought them, and the rest was left to God.”

(Mary Slessor: [1848-1915]: Scottish Presbyterian missionary who worked in Nigeria).

“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”                             (1 Timothy 6: 7-8)

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’.” 

(Hebrews 13:5)