Is Simplicity a Virtue?

While describing a personality an inevitable characteristic that will creep up is the way he/she handles his/her life. Nowadays, we have started branding people as ‘simple’ with out knowing much about their personal background. Simplicity does not just lie in the way we dress ourselves but it lies in the way how we present ourselves to the world. For example, I would not reckon Gandhiji as simple just because he was wearing a dhoti through out his life. He commands respect and reverence through his belief in a scrupulous, unpretentious and truthful means of life that he successfully demonstrated. Probably, it is irrelevant to bring Gandhiji into the present day scenario of simplicity because Gandhiji had to do what he did. He wouldn’t have been successful in involving masses in the revolution if he himself chose to live in costly houses and roam around in cars.
At this stage, I would like you to know what prompted me to choose this topic. It was an article in Hindu that I read couple of days back in the open page which mentions about the lack of idols for today’s Indian youth. There is a great dearth of personalities in India who stand for a specific virtue. They win beauty contests saying they want to follow Mother Teresa, only to involve themselves in the item numbers of bollywood. They fight among themselves on the issues of holding posts which fetch them profits, when everyone knows that the very post they were elected to by the public has become a relentless source of revenue. Enemies now, friends today, promises for coalition for tomorrow and god alone knows what would happen next.( This is in particular reference to the Tamilnadu politics which makes me feel sick because neither can I distinguish each of the party’s name nor can I associate them with their respective allies.)
Right then, coming back to the topic, (enough of digression and didactism. Of course, you are here to experience it), when I make this point about simplicity, I very well know that I cannot give you any example of a person who looks pompous in his appearance and yet leads a simple life. These two personalities may not go together but it is my strong belief that I will encounter a person who is a perfect blend of both these qualities. To reinforce my point in a much straightforward way, to judge simplicity of a person in modern day’s context, I hardly care about how a person is dressed or how big his house is or how many cars he owns. I am only bothered about his/her personality, their inherent beliefs, their truthfulness and their behavior and it’s relevance to the position that they enjoy in the society. If this piece makes you understand what I intend to convey, kudos to me. If not, I have, once again, successfully and effectively wasted your time, kudos to me.