In my continued quest to understand my fellow creatures, I have
come upon an interesting observation that may explain some of the
innate differences in how each of us deals with life events. The
observation, simply put, is that all of us are either minimalists
or maximalists.
Maximalists live by a code of "more is better," "bigger is
better," and "sooner than later." They incline to instant
gratification and little introspection about their actions. They
are apt to extend this philosophy into work, food, drink, and
personal possessions. These people often take great pride in their
expansive life style.
The minimalist, on the other hand, lives a more restrictive life
style with a philosophy of making do rather than making more. He or
she believes that less of everything is appropriate, is able to
delay gratification, and tends to be moderate in habits. Many
children who grew up in the depression are apt to fall into this
classification. These people enjoy self-denial and often feel quite
righteous about it.
I present this because I have come to appreciate how conflicted
people can become when dealing or living with a person of the
opposite camp.
I realize that this classification is not an absolute one and
that there are crossovers on both sides. This is similar to the
difficulty in categorizing individuals in the type A and type B
personality classifications that have been popularized.
With this all said and done, what does it all mean? It might
help us understand ourselves and our opposites better when
differences surface to apply an apt philosophy of Samuel Butler,
who wrote:
"No man's opinions can be worth holding unless he knows how to
deny them easily and gracefully upon occasion in the cause of
charity."