A number 2 pencil is really a very simple tool. It only needs to be sharpened to be immediately useful. Originally the term pencil referred to a small brush used for writing. Graphite filled pencils were a later innovation and still later mechanical pencils came on the scene. The mechanical pencil was a bit more complicated than the original paint brush, but still relatively simple. The use of computers to write was a great complicated leap forward for writing. Computers are enormously complicated. When the bead on your pencil breaks you just sharpen it again. In contrast few of us have the skill to fix a broken computer. When they work, they are wonderful. When they don’t it feels like a disaster. No one has to worry about someone hacking their pencil. There are no pass words to guard or to remember with a pencil. Pencils are very inexpensive while computers challenge our budget. The soft ware for a pencil we carry in our heads. Computer soft wear is a continuing expense. Personally I like working with a computer but sometimes simpler is best. I have found this to be true in other areas of like. A simple wedding is often more beautiful and more meaningful than an ornate excessive one. A short simple funeral service may be more comforting for mourners than a drawn out pageantry. An unaccompanied voice can often really “sell the song.” There is a place for the ornate, the complex, the intricate accompaniment, the grand pageant. Fortunately, we can legitimately have both the simple and the complex in our lives. Each has its place, but it is easy to be caught up in our complex world and miss the usefulness and beauty of the simple. To quote an ideal from the Shaker tradition “It’s a gift to be simple, it’s a gift to be free.”