LIVE WITH LITTLE, LIVE RICHLY!

“I like shopping here,” said a man at a Dollar Store, “it’s the only place I feel rich.”
We  all laughed and shook our heads affirmatively. The more I thought about  that statement later, the more the absurd reality of it hit home. For  wealth, like most things, is relative.
 

Relativity  of status in life can be confusing, humorous, or downright  disappointing. Traveling in a (fairly) poor country, I was going to a  neighboring town. At the train station, the ticket agent asked, “General  or first class?” The trip was to be about two hours long, so I  purchased a general ticket. A sign on the platform indicated GENERAL, and another further down, FIRST CLASS.  I entered and found myself in a car with lots of cargo and people  sitting on their belongings or the floor next to their livestock -  goats, sheep, pigs, etc. Thinking that I was obviously in the wrong  area, I moved to the next car which was less crowded and had wooden  benches. Once on the way, the conductor came by to check our tickets.  When I showed him my ticket, he said that I had tickets for general  area, and this was first class.  
Astounded, I asked, “How is this first class?”
“It has seats!” was his answer with finality.  
 

On  a weekend hike through the mountains, once, I met a young couple  carrying enormous backpacks. “How long are you going for?” I asked. “Oh,  just the weekend,” was their response. On my return the next day, I saw  that they had camped not far from where I met them the day before. The  burden of their packs had made them miss the part of nature they had  come to see further down the trail. They had so much stuff for just in case, that they never reached the in case.
 

In  contrast, I once met a girl on the train to Malaga, Spain. Her backpack  was light and small. She had been traveling for the last two years  through Europe and was on her way to Morocco and a year of exploring  North Africa. She was a travel writer and told many stories of her  adventures. “Sometimes, I need to move quickly,” she said to my comment  about her light pack. “Like the time I got off the train in Athens to  find myself amidst their civil unrest in 1973.”  
“I carry three  days’ change of clothing,” she continued, “food and snacks to last me  two days, camera and my writing stuff. I keep the weight of my pack  under 25 lbs.”  
 

Life  has become ever more unpredictable. Contrary to expectations, the  twenty-first century seems to be at the cusp of historical and natural  upheavals and transformation. Keeping light would be the prudent thing  to do these days! Still, one can live richly even with little.
 

                                                                                                       Reza Ghadimi

                                                                                                       January 15, 2026