From 2010 until 2015, José Mujica was the president of Uruguay. He was an unusual president, in a number of ways. The most unusual of all was his lifestyle — it was very humble, very laid back. In fact his whole life can be summed up as “less is more”.
Mujica lived in a small, broken down house with his wife and two dogs. Even in his choice of pets, he was humble; one of his dogs had only three legs. Every month, Mr. Mujica gave away 90% of his presidential salary to any given charity.
Instead of a limousine, Mujica drove around in a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle. Just like everything else in his life, the car was almost falling apart but by some miracle he managed to make it work. Mujica had no security detail, and traveled everywhere he needed to go in the most simple of ways.
In 2010, the value of the Beetle was estimated at $1,800 and represented the entirety of the mandatory annual personal wealth declaration filed by Mujica for that year. In November 2014, an Uruguayan newspaper reported that the president had been offered 1 million dollars for the car; he said that if he did get 1 million dollars for the car, it would be donated to house the homeless. There have been no scandals in her personal life, he’s been a one-woman man, his life plain, his habits austere, almost saintly.
Surely, such a humble man must be a God-fearing soul, one might assume. Not exactly — 87-year-old José Muijca is, in fact, an atheist. In his mind, no eternal reward awaits him for his kindness, nor punishment for any misteps… he does good, solely because he wants to do good.
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