Until recently, I thought that Hal was one of a kind, but a recent BBC report has given me pause. I now suspect that Hal and Uruguayan President Jose Mujica were separated at birth.
President Mujica, dubbed the “poorest president in the world”, donates 90% of his $12,000/month salary, lives in his wife’s farmhouse (Hal lives in Norma’s house!), and says things that sound just like Hal. Here’s a sampling of President Mujica’s words:
“…I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more. This is a matter of freedom. If you don’t have many possessions then you don’t need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself.”
“I ask you now: what would happen to this planet if Indians would have the same proportion of cars per household than Germans? How much oxygen would we have left?”
From Jose traveling in a VW bug — Hal’s choice of car for many years — to both enjoying eating out of a garden to both leading by example, these two are kindred spirits!
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” Epicurus 341 B.C. – 270 B.C.