feeding a fire for one

My neighbor owns one good chair. Every guest gets it. He sits on a wooden crate. I asked why he does not buy another chair. He said, "Then I would have two good chairs and nowhere to put the crate." This is not poverty. The crate has a job and the chair has a rank. Buying another chair would turn a small act of hospitality into furniture management. A person can build an entire life by refusing the second chair. One good thing remains good because it still has somewhere specific to go.