This was our first time traveling in developing countries. And let me tell you, that'll set you thinking. A journey to a poor country will change you. It'll make you think of social justice, the fairness of life, and the definition of poverty -- and not just a little. I spend days turning it over in my head.
I'm full aware of the unfairness of life. Even in the US there are uncomfortable inequalities for those who have eyes to see them. I console myself by observing that my place is about in the middle -- folks ahead, folks behind. I'm not sure why that consoles me, it just does.
And you have to be a little hardened -- else you would never return home. For how could you bear to not help these people.
But what really set me thinking was the meaning of poverty and the inevitable value judgements we bring to the third world.
I see the poverty that they live in and feel superior, that I have a better life. But in both countries the value placed on families and quality of life surprised me. So it's not a simple equation. It's not just about money. In many respects, most folks in Vietnam and Cambodia have a higher quality of life than I do.
Americans on a daily basis spend more time with the strangers at work than with their real friends and family. When home we usually forego interaction with our family to watch television.
But then am I romanticizing their poverty to make myself feel better?
See, travel here gives you questions you cannot answer about the essential nature of happiness and being human.
