A Cultural Experience

I'm going to reminisce today. I'm going to go back to the beginning of the year and tell you what it was like to be back in my country to live after leaving almost 20 years ago. Not only to live, but to work. In a very small area I was surrounded by both worlds, jumping head first into shock. I can tell you that I learned a lot. When I try to explain this, of course it's difficult. I guess the best way I can explain it is this.

Picture yourself, this scared but determined city person with a hippy side, that has flown across the world to go explore the jungle as soon as you get off the plane. You bring nothing with you but a group of strangers that you've never met before. In fact, you really didn't think these strangers were coming with you. You thought you were on this spiritual quest by yourself, but they decided they were all coming along for the ride. When you get off the plane, you walk into the jungle and you think you know where you're going. You soon realize you don't and neither do these strangers. So you're in the jungle and you're thinking firstly shelter, food and water. It is hard to find water in the jungle. This is what you're thinking but all these strangers around you are so loud that it's so hard to hear yourself. All they are doing is complaining. Some are drunk, some are extremely rude and some are just walking through that jungle with no care for anything else around them. After a while you want to kill these people but you don't want to be left alone in the jungle. So you put up with it.

As you keep walking you encounter a village. For some reason these people here know you. And only you. They tell you that you're part of the family and they have been waiting for so long for you to come home. You look around at all the adults and the children. Some expect you to hug them, some just stare and most of the kids come running towards you. You can understand them, but none of the strangers that are with you can, so they huddle together. You feel like you're at home in a strange environment surrounded by strangers even though you culturally don't fit in. It makes you feel good because they seem to love you despite not really knowing you. They also seem to love the strangers regardless of their behaviour and how they swear all the time. You're amazed that all they can do is point at things that are "weird" or "different" and wonder where the toilet is, or the shower, or the hot water, or the lavish homes. And you, you don't really care about any of these things because you feel comfortable and you just want to get to know this family. Eventually the strangers that you're with get bored. They eat everything, make a mess and complain about wanting to go on into the jungle.. so you bid your farewells and move along with them, promising your new family you'll be back. You have a connection with them that you just don't understand, but you feel good about it.

So not too long after that you arrive in this big clearing with the largest mansion type building you've ever seen. It's literally 5 minutes away from where you just were and you're wondering how strange it is to have this tall looming building in the middle of the jungle. You feel like it's out of place. So you go into it and it has everything you've ever wanted and everything you can dream of. The strangers with you are so happy and they run to everything because they are so excited. It has all the amazing foods from the western world you just left and all the technology and more. The people that live in this world are happy here spending all their money on expensive items, expensive foods, material items and drugs and alcohol. You think to yourself, ah, it's just the same here as it is in the West.

You watch everyone around you appalled, but it's hard not to get sucked in. So you live this lifestyle with them all the while a little part of you is still wondering about the jungle and world that is around you. You forget that you can speak the language. You forget that you came to this world to explore the jungle. You become exactly like the strangers. Eventually you become friends with them and form a close bond, but you're always wondering about the family out there in the jungle. You work every day for less than what you would make back in the Western world, but you convince yourself you're happy. You try to make up for it by traveling to other islands for a day or two doing seeing tourist attractions and feeling like that meant you really "saw" the place. You work and drink and work and buy. Eventually you become stressed out and you don't know what you want anymore. You contract this life threatening disease and as you're lying there not knowing if you'll survive or die, you begin to think about all the important things to you. What makes you happy. What your goals are in life. You remember those children and slowly as you regain your strength, you remember what you came here for.

You're at full strength now and you go back to work. But this time you're floating around the same friends and observing their lavish lifestyle instead of participating. You know you've had enough of it and decide to leave and go back into the jungle. You find your family and spend time with the children. You visit other villages that are the same. You visit orphanages and institutions for under-privileged children. You have this connection with children that is unexplainable because you know what it's like not to be loved as a child. So you want to just love them. You get to know them and you play with them and you realize what little they have that makes them happy. You see their faces when they are together and the love they bring each other. You look at the families and you see how supportive this community is of each other and their struggles. They are a team of survivors. They don't eat the western world food and they don't buy anything more than they can consume in one day. They have insane imaginations and they work very hard to provide for their families. At the end of the day they relax and talk with each other. They sing and dance and they fall asleep next to each other. They understand love.

You notice there are a few that go back and forth between the large mansion and their village. They do business with each other and you can see how it benefits the village. You watch as it helps to grow the community, but then you see also how they are getting exploited and taken advantage of. The balance between giving and taking is not level. The village gives more, when it has not as much to give. This makes you sad, but you accept that it is how the world works. The poor are always the ones to pay for the rich, but the rich are never happy.

You decide you need to continue on in the jungle. You learn about another community that lives with garbage and you decide to go find them. You take everything you can with you, everything you own and bring it to the landfill. You see the state of the families that live there and you walk over to each one and you give them something. You look at them in the eyes and you study their faces. All of them smile at you. They seem happy. You wonder if they knew another way, would they still be happy but they don't care about what other people have. They just know what they have to do. They don't go visit the other communities. They make a living this way, collecting paper, plastic and bottles. You learn they want the same thing as every one else: food, shelter, education and love. You realize they don't ask for anything from you, but you see how they have nothing. They are sick from all the garbage but they don't even ask you for help. All the children still play. They play as they work and they take care of each other. They smile at you and show you around their homes. It makes you cry. A lot. And you have no idea why. You have to go, but you promise you'll be back.

As you walk back through the jungle, you turn around and see all three communities beside each other. You see three very different worlds. You see the world that has everything, consumes everything, wants everything and more of everything and that has access to food, shelter, education and health care at any time. You see how they take it for granted. You see the world that lives modestly and humbly and can afford these things through strict discipline and a willingness to provide for each other and love each other. You see how they thank God for everything they have. You see the world that has nothing at all except each other, but you see their strength and their happiness. You realize both of those "lesser" worlds combined are in actuality, wealthier than the people that live in that large mansion. You realize all these worlds need to coexist in order to exist. You realize that you are a part of all these worlds and sadly, none of them will ever meet on the same level and the same understanding.

Your strangers that you came with... they came for the entertainment, the luxury, the experience of being somewhere new and having fun and getting the most out of this place as they can. You, you came for the people, the place and the life. The experience came with it, but you wanted a better understanding of yourself and the world. You got it now and you will never again feel the same towards anyone or anything. Neither worlds you came from will ever look the same to you. It is sad because you continue to feel alienated because you feel different every where you go, but at the same time you feel that you are more connected with everyone then ever before. You appreciate the fact that everywhere you go, everyone is doing the same thing but just in their own way... even deep in the jungle on the other side of the world.

The West met the East where the East was born, and the East will meet the West again, reborn.