Acquisition, Competition, Individualism

Brian Wilson, in his book, Blood on the Tracks, talking about his epiphany regarding US foreign policy, said it was all new to him, because he grew up in a society that promotes individualism, acquisition, competition. No kidding. We don't just promote these things, we make a religion of them. Then we yearn for community, connectivity, caring, and the simple life. If one has a ton of money, one can "get away from it all" by going to his country home or his camp or cabin. What is the "it all", that we need to escape? Alienation from nature? The rat race? Endless appointments? Our stuff? We work so hard to build a life that we need a break from.

This does not have to be like this. There are lots of societies on this planet where people have different values, where people don't have to take courses on how to build community, where people don't have to unlearn a life time of conditioning to feel connected. Brian Wilson had to go to Vietnam and Nicaragua and El Salvador to unlearn the lessons he had learned so well as a youth in the USA.

I had to go to Guatemala in a time of war to learn about community. When Pax Panis brought seeds to the villages ruined by the scorched earth policy taught at the School of the Americas, the men of the village stayed up all night counting the seeds into perfectly even piles so that everyone, everyone, got exactly the same amount for their garden Some of these seeds were carrot seeds. Do you know how tiny carrot seeds are? Very.

In Jamaica, I watched in wonder when my friends were cooking dinner. The process took a long time. The men who were cooking had to go around and collect the fish, the vegetables, make oil from the coconuts. In the process, they schmoozed with everyone. When the food was ready, plates were taken all around the 'yard'. The first person I saw served was a disagreeable old woman who sat on her veranda and made sort of nasty comments to everyone who passed by. Then the food went to the other elders, then to children, then to guests, then to the family that was cooking. Everyone got a perfect plate of freshly cooked food. No one said they didn't eat this or that. Everyone talked and chattered across the 'yard'. It was so simple and so different from our suburbs where each property either has a fence and everyone is in their isolated box.

My friend Mamadou says that in his country Senegal, the 'handicapped' people aren't treated any different from anyone else. His friendship with my Downs Syndrome brother John, has taught me a lot about seeing John as I see anyone. No matter John's IQ, he has all the same feelings and needs as any of us, and he glows when given a chance. My family valued intellect and education, so we got John as a teacher. With John, acquisition and competition and individualism don't really count.

The Republican Convention Show on TV was a religious revival for the values of our country at this time. If these values made us happy and if we, in turn, made the rest of the world a better place, they might be worth celebrating. I don't see that right now. Right now many of us are trying to learn simple values and finding our teachers elsewhere. Que viva el Che!