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Dayton Daily News, Thursday, January 4, 2001
For three months out of the year, Joel Setzekorn is buried in
numbers: tax forms, exemptions, tables and strings of endless calculations. But the other nine months are reserved for something
he feels in his heart: he thinks and he writes.
The 53-year-old Farmersville man, a native of St. Louis,
is writing a book on philosophy. He's been at it since 1990, and he doesn't know when he'll finish.
He credits
his deep love of philosophy to an instructor at Westminster College. "I've been studying this stuff for 35 years,"
he said.
Setzekorn readily discusses areas of interest--processing reality, existentialism, pragmatism--terms
which seldom surface in casual conversation. But it is the stuff that defines his time most of the year. "You can spend
half an hour on a page," he said.
Books are one of his weaknesses and he admits, "It's a rare month
when I don't spend $100 on books." He drives a 13-year-old car as a trade-off. "Computers and books, that's the
extent of my toys," Setzekorn said.
His tax office, Planning Systems at 10 W. Center St., has six computers
and he has another two at his home. He has 31 years of tax experience and was a district manager for H&R Block in the
early 1970s. He's also developed software.
From late January through April, Setzekorn's life revolves around
taxes. He often spends 80 to 100 hours a week working on them. Six years ago he bought the former Martha's Tax Service, and
that's what brought him to Farmersville.
While his tax business is growing at 15 percent a year, Setzekorn
is also working on various Internet projects, all of which he hopes to grow into money-making ventures. He compares the Internet
to automobiles or telephones in the early part of the 20th century. "Who could have predicted what was going to happen?"
he said. He's counting on paid advertising on the Web to help fund his simple lifestyle. "That sort of activity allows
small ideas to grow without a major expenditure," he said.
In fact, Setzekorn, a father of three, limits
himself to concerts and symphonies and "long walks in the parks." He also enjoys touring museums and dabbles in
horticulture, noting an orchid he received for Christmas.
He's not into sports. "I don't even know what
season it is," he said with a laugh. "My mind doesn't have room enough for that and important stuff, too."
Tropical fish were an important hobby many years ago. His tax office still sports a large tropical fish tank.
"You've got to provide them their environment. It's good to give somebody what they need," he said.
But it is philosophy that takes top billing. "It's like farming," he said. "You've got to have another job."
Setzekorn admits his book will not be a best seller. "I don't want to do a 'pop philosophy' thing. I'm doing what
I'm interested in. If there are 200 sold in my lifetime, I'll be happy," he said.
What he's interested
in is getting others fired up on philosophy. He already knows how the book will begin: "All I really know is that I have
experience."
For a man making a living in farming country, he talks with deliberate thought. "Why
do we think our view of physics is the last word?" he said. He said he's sure "the world is not 99 percent figured
out."
His long, graying hair is a throwback to the 1960s. He calls it a sign of individualism and he's
not had it cut in the last seven years. "I just haven't got out of the '60s yet," he said with a smile.
Farmersville is the perfect, quiet atmosphere for a philosopher. "I'm really independent. It's nice to be able
to think," Setzekorn said.
[Editor's note: Billie and Joel were married in a pantheist ceremony on June 9,
2001.]
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