So I have taken to my old habit of going to church to give myself space, time to think and to breath in the meditative sound of good old christian rhetoric as it echos across the vaulted ceilings. Today´s “performance” was less inspiring than most. There was no organ, and the service was less than an hour (these Platanos, as I have taken to calling them, don´t waste time in their praying). At least in Buenos Aires they had a really haunting trumpet player.
I was reflecting on the incentives that drive people, and later why I am here myself (you know, I like to keep it practical and not philosophical). Here there simply seem to be a larger range of cultral incentives that drive people. In the states (I am fully aware that this may be inflametory, so feel free to let me have it) I feel like money, and the culture of money drives many people. That the incentive that many people use and accept, is monetary. It is in our culture, it is all around us. The more nice things we have, the happier we will be (I make no comment about the truth of that statement). We use money and economic arguements to drive and justify everything. I see money as the most powerful cultural incentive.
And I don´t like it. Not that I am rooting for us to return to the barter system, nor am I honestly proponing communism with its totally planned economy….I actually kind ofdig capitalism in some ways, I think that it has tons of creative solutions to hard problems. I find it very dynamic. I totally understand that big social welfare states can get extremely top heavy and really weight down everyone, even the people they are trying to help. You can´t simply force people to “do the right thing” (I think that may be an oxymoron). Which is why I appreciate the cultural different here. A need, an understanding of the need to make sacrifices for your future and for the greater good in IN the culture here. A need to struggle for a good life for you AND those in your community is IN the culture.
It is true they don´t have as much as we do. But they better apreciate what they do have, and they work to share it. They are a very that values solidarity. The sacrifices that I saw at IMPA were tremendous. These people had little money, but they had health insurance, a modest roof over their head, good food on their plates, retirement funds, a steady job, a job/product they were connected with and deticated to, and a community they were a part of. Do you really need money when you have those things? They are happy. Their incentives are different, they are a steady job, being part of a community and having a future for their family. I understand that I may be preaching to the converted, and that there are blaring wholes in my arguement, but it is the sentiment I am trying to get across.
One of the major differences and burdens on the US system and US family is the private university system. You need money for this OR your child needs to a well paying job after school to be able to afford the loan payments. It is really hard to appreciate other things when you a huge debt to repay. (PS there are no mortages or really even loans here. We may be a richer people, but we are also cronically more indebt! That wealth is semi illusionary). Here the university is free. My host brother has changed his degree three times, but the oppurtunity to finish is always there. I believe whole heartedly in free and universally avaliable and encouraged education.
I just want to say in the end, that I do love my country, all its freedoms, its stable (somewhat/kind of) reliable instituations and of course my culture and family and friends. But I don´t think that I care much for its social incentives, its monetary obession. I have always felt a little out of place and here I simply feel more in tune.
I am going to throw this out there, because I know how I sound and I am trying to be self reflective…it may just be because I have enough money and don´t have to worry about it, but I think that there is something out there bigger than money.
