The shame we occasionally feel over our simple and sometimes odd ways is often misplaced. When we embrace these simple ways, we can face life with humility and a healthy sense of humor.
Mrs. Swann is prodigiously proud of her 19-year-old son, Gilbert, who has been a musical prodigy from near infancy and has become famous throughout the Five Towns for his musical skill.
Mrs. Swann’s pride peaks when Gilbert is invited not only to play the violoncello with the London orchestra at the Five Towns music festival but also to dine with Mrs. Clayton Vernon, a well-known personage in the musical community.
However, Mrs. Swann begins to stress and panic when Mr. Swann announces that the temperature is now freezing. Gilbert will not be able to keep his hands warm for playing in the festival, and his mother wants him to be able to demonstrate his genius.
She suddenly comes up with an idea: “the genius of common sense.” She will make two hot potatoes to keep Gilbert’s hands warm for playing.
Hot Mess
During her journey, she never considers the potatoes hidden in her fine outfit as ridiculous. She merely sees them as “the right and the only thing to do.”Not until she walks through the gate of Mrs. Clayton Vernon’s house does Mrs. Swann realize the oddity of her errand. The simple potatoes suddenly seem so astonishing at a nice house and in the presence of such a lady.
The situation becomes all the more ridiculous once Mrs. Swann enters the house. She wants to avoid Mrs. Vernon at all costs. However, as the servant leads Mrs. Swann into the breakfast room, Mrs. Vernon appears.
Mrs. Swann panics at the sight of the lady. In her panic, she unconsciously squeezes the potato in her right hand, causing a hot, sticky mess in her muff. Steam emits from her muff and the potato crumbles onto the floor.
Disaster soon strikes again: The second potato falls from Mrs. Swann’s muff, rolling down under her dress. In an effort to hide this new embarrassment, Mrs. Swann attempts to conceal it but instead steps on the potato.
G.K. Chesterton perfectly expresses Bennett’s thoughts in “Heretics,” when he says: “I will have nothing to do with simplicity which lacks the fear, the astonishment, and the joy alike.”
True, complete simplicity will always bring fears, astonishments, and joys. To truly enjoy simplicity and gain the gratitude that it endows, we must possess humor and humility. Humility allows us to deal with the fears and astonishments, and humor allows us to laugh at our mistakes and earn the joy.
When we possess humor and humility, we can experience the joys of a simple life, enjoy life more, and laugh at our mistakes.
