americans are dumb.our illusions of education are going to get us all killed. basically everyone i meet here has more world knowledge and historical info than most of the americans i know. its not really til upper high school/college that american education tells you anything important about the world; how many history classes have you had that told you to memorize dates and names of people without ever telling you who they were or what the hell they have to do with the modern world.
and how many americans run around saying, oh i want to be rich. if you want to be rich you never will be. it will never be enough...anyway most of the people ive heard say that already have things in their life that most of the worlds population never will. but theyll never know it because americans are too scared to go anywhere but europe or maybe mexico. they're scared for good reason, all the fuck thats shown on tv of the poor places of the world is poverty and disease and traditional living. how many americans think africa is a giant slum with some grasslands in between in which people with funny piercings chase lions?
you know before i left i was warned about a lot of shit that has nothing to do with reality here, and these are from people in whove been here. wear bug spray and treat your clothes and dont drink the water and dont eat fruit and girls only wear skirts and high heels and take antimalarials and if you dont listen to these rules you will die. i have broken all of these and nothing terrible has happened yet. (alhamdoulilaah) and there are tons of girls running around in pants.
americans are selfish. senegalese society does not favor selfish behavior. if you walk into a room and someone is making attaya (tea) or eating you are automatically invited to eat and drink. in fact, you will be given the first cup of attaya that is ready and if you say yes to eating and there is not much food there your host will stop eating and leave the room so you feel comfortable eating all you want. it is up to you to say no.
if you have something, like socks or a walkman or money and your friend asks you for it, if you have the means you should say yes without even questioning it. the chances of you being homeless, despite rampant poverty, or hungry, are so small here. your family will take you in until you are married and have the means to live on your own, even if you are 45 years old. this is not at all a source of shame like it would be in the states - its just a fact of life. its normal. of course this also means you must contribute to the house and respect their authority. when i describe how the police steal the homeless' blankets on the minneapolis river and all the broken homes and children and parents who hate each other my friends are shocked.
when everyone makes an effort to behave selflessly everyone gains. perhaps one time you will part with something you thought you needed, and the next time it will be you who receives. you can even see it in the way people drive. the traffic here is really bad, but people cut each other off and dont really get too pissed about it and people stop traffic to let someone turn, and there is rarely someone screaming out a window because of it.
money is bad. americans are like a bunch of ignorant children, whining about shit and running a rat race because they just dont know any better.
my friends have very, very little materially. but they are pretty happy, and calm. they are less uptight and laugh more and...
i dont want to make this society sound perfect because its not. there is rampant homophobia and gender role issues, women get abused and it is more acceptable, and there is definitely ignorance and whatnot. in addition i am protected from a lot of the problems that poverty brings (like lack of medical care) because i am rich, so it is surely easy for me to idealize the social living that is daily reality...
but i have to say this society has taught me a lot about how to be human, and what material living does to people.
the second noble truth:
Samudayasatya : The Truth of the Cause.
The second truth is that the cause of dukkha is tanha, or "thirst". Tanha is also generally translated as "desire", but "thirst" suggests that it is meant more specifically, as "personal desire". The desire for private fulfillment causes actions at the expense of others. It interferes with the oneness of all things, leads to ignorance, and brings suffering.
