Zur deutschen Fassung.

I have just started house and rabbit sitting for a family in Germany who will be flying to Tanzania for three months to work in a hospital there.

After the family of five had packed seven suitcases for a quarter of a year – two of them with donations for the people of Liuli -, the daughter, who might be about 10 years old, thoughtfully stood in front of the luggage and said: “Wow. This is really everything that we need to survive,” which already included stuffed animals and school supplies.

“And our closets are still completely full,” she continued. “It seems we don’t really need all the stuff we own.”

Those were wiser words than anything said in that stupid “Minimalism” movie.

Traveling is the best way to learn real minimalism. The more often you pack and unpack your bag and laboriously drag it up the steep steps to the youth hostel in the castle on top of the hill (where youth hostels in Germany are often located), the more obvious it becomes that property and possessions are more of a burden than a liberation.

But I, too, still have a weak point concerning printed materials.