Converting to Metric with Thomas Merton

I have always felt a little cheated that the promise of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 never came true. (Here's proof.) The metric system is intuitive; it is the converting back and forth to "English" (and even the English do not use the system anymore) that causes the problem. Conversion is hard work requiring a shift in how we think.

Now I am working on a little conversion myself. I want to convert from a life complicated with too much stuff to one of serene, unfettered simplicity -- but I will settle for one slightly less cluttered. I am a bit of a collector (OK, "ten pounds of sugar in a five pound sack" springs to mind), but I can still be inspired by Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, who said, "Give up everything, give up everything!"

I know that is not going to happen. I have a beautiful, carefully curated yarn stash and eight tall bookcases that are not likely to disappear, or even shrink, but the rest of my life is loaded down with its fair share of meaningless miscellany. Knickknacks, jimcracks, and whimseys; old perfume, mom jeans, mateless socks, and did I mention fabric?

Vincent Van Gogh's phrase "The best way to know life is to love many things" has long been my motto. I fall in love with all kinds of things. The trouble is, loving a thing is no guarantee that it enriches my life.

Maybe hanging onto a broken CD player is symbolic of my hopeful outlook on life. Don't you think that one day it might just start working again? Not likely.

So I'm working on thinning the woodlot, getting rid of the obvious cement overshoes to a sleek, well organized life. I keep chanting "Give up everything, give up everything!" Somewhere between being buried by an avalanche of affluence and becoming a Trappist monk lies a comfortable medium, one that won't leave my heirs saying, "What was she thinking?"

I think I will start in the refrigerator. Do you think it could be as easy as throwing out the yardsticks, quarts and pounds; going cold turkey?