By Mario deSantis, February 19, 2000

I can see a world of infinite choices where we all can make a difference, instead we are experiencing a crazy world where law and order is maintained by legislating unconstitutional laws, where economic growth is calculated through the Gross National Product index, and where governments willfully misappropriate and mismanage public funds.

Today, (February 16) The StarPhoenix reports that two senior constables have been suspended in connection to a homicide investigation of two Native men discovered frozen to death(1), and that seventy protesting farmers chained up the doors of the Legislature Building yesterday afternoon(2). In the meantime, a delegation of business people headed by Janice MacKinnon, Minister of Economic Development, is taking a trip to Mongolia. Our world is getting very convoluted, full of ambiguities, and there appears to be no end to this social nightmare in Saskatchewan.

As I ponder to our social and economic mess, the word simplicity comes to my mind; and simplicity is what could rescue us from this social and economic mess. The term simplicity has been propping up quite frequently lately, but unconsciously I have cherished simplicity as a natural way to make sense of the world around me. Simplicity is just common sense, that is the discerning of whatever is important from whatever is irrelevant or equally a way to distinguish "the forest from the trees." Simplicity is a natural concept, a way to find order or clarity when we are in a state of confusion.

Whenever my son James had to write essays or research papers for his university's classes, I would tell him, among other things, "put yourself in the readers' shoes and see if whatever you say makes sense", also I would add "be logical with the continuity of your sentences and put as many references as you can." I would finish my preaching saying "always remember the KISS principle, keep it simple and stupid."

Simplicity is the most natural way to behave, yet our convoluted world has been imposing its artificialities on the way we behave and do our work. I cannot ever forget the time in the late 70s when working for the Saskatchewan Health-Care Association (today's Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations) I came across computerized input forms containing so many fields which had to be filled and which were not later processed by the computer system. When I asked why those fields had to be filled, I was told that the computer system was too sophisticated for me to understand. So, to be in business meant to be sophisticated and not looking for simplicity. Luckily enough, I never bought into this stupid idea of being sophisticated and behaving like a puppy dog. In few words, our world is filled with too many sophisticated leaders who make a mess of our work, of our time, and ultimately of our lives.

Simplicity is a simple term describing our natural way to behave, to make sense of the world around us, however it has been ignored by our sophisticated leaders, in politics, in business, in education, in governments. But simplicity has been always with us in our homes with our moms as they would look after our well being by feeding us, by taking us to bed, by taking us to school and teaching us the basics for becoming decent human beings(3).

In my home-office, I have a bulletin board and on it I have a copy of the letter Timothy Shire wrote  on behalf of my son James as part of his enrolment process to attend the Master of Business Administration program at the University of North Dakota. In this letter, Shire writes "...During this winter I published several articles by James in my daily online magazine/journal and the reason I published these articles was because I thought their simplicity and clarity would serve as excellent examples to high school and post secondary students who need to see models of well written material that fits well into this evolving world of electronic documents..." Simplicity and clarity, that is what is needed in this convoluted world.

Today, I have a great sense of satisfaction in realizing that simplicity and clarity have been hailed as the most important competitive advantage for corporations, governments, schools and universities(4). Today, when racist cops may have killed innocent people, when our governments mismanage and misappropriate public funds, when our politicians and bureaucrats cover up their misdeeds with lies over lies, then more than ever we require to make sense of what is happening around us and go back to the basics of simplicity and clarity.

References

General reference: Articles by Mario deSantis published by North Central Internet News http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/authors/desantis.html

1. City cops suspended, by Dan Zakreski, The StarPhoenix, February 16, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

2. Protesters chain door of legislature, by Lisa Schmidt, The StarPhoenix, February 16, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

3. Wear Clean Underwear: Business Wisdom From Mom, by Rhonda Abrams, Villard, 1999 http://www.mgeneral.com/5-top/99-top/abrams.htm

4. Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage, by Bill Jensen, Perseus Books, January 2000 http://simplerwork.com