Daniel Lubetzky

This last summer and the next couple months, because of the work I am doing for October 18′s One Million Voices Summit, I realized I would need to live the life of a hermit.  I spent the last eight weeks in the Middle East, then 1 week in China, now am in the US traveling between CA, NY, DC and TX over the next month, and then will be back in the Middle East during October.

In preparation for this schedule, I had already packed most of my stuff and shipped it for warehousing or to my home in San Antonio and Tel Aviv.  Besides one suitcase of clothes, I packed one mid-size box with only the most essential things that I realized I would need when back in the US.

Today I found that box.  I had marked it "Essential Stuff."  I hadn’t needed all of these "essential" things for months, and I had forgotten all about it.  I still haven’t opened it, and don’t feel like it anymore.

I was struck at how little we actually need to function, and how all of these possessions actually make your life harder than easier some times.

I still remember our wise law school buddy Jonathan Guy, when he commented on how material possessions tie you and bog you down, how they impinge your freedom in so many ways.  Such wisdom from my dear friend Jonathan (though when I visited him a few years later at his beautiful home in DC, with a Porsche parked in his garage, his teachings rang a little less authoritative).