Why Make It Hard?

“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.”

     –     Oliver Wendell Holmes

The internal combustion engine is a miraculously complex machine involving fire, lubricant, compression, rotation and exhaust.

Or, fuel, spark, oxygen, “boom.”

The human body is a miraculous combination of divine design, electronic, muscular-skeletal, coronary and respiratory amazement.

Or, diet, exercise, genetics, longevity.

Of course things aren’t that simple, but they’re pretty danged close to that simple.

We’re tempted, taunted even, in to thinking that our area of specialty is somehow, well, special.

I am reminded of Dr. Al-Jerf, who performed the Whipple Procedure on my dad.  I commented on how amazing, how complex his work was.  His answer will stay with me forever:  “I am like the auto mechanic,” he said.  “Another doctor has discovered cancer inside your father.  I have simply taken it out.”

Humbling moment #977.  “I have simply taken it out.”

Let’s don’t kid ourselves, while what we do might well make a difference, and while the majority of us earn more than we might be worth compared to teachers and nurses and people that ought to earn more — what we do likely ain’t all that hard.

And it’s not that it’s easy.  It’s that it’s simple.

Here’s my challenge.  Let’s spend one day making everything we encounter as simple as it can be.  Fuel, spark, oxygen, boom.  At the end of that day, assess how tired we’re not, how energized we are.  Then rinse, repeat.  Over and over again.