And here I was (see picture below). I had just arrived America - the new world, the dreamland - in search for a new meaning of life, a better education, a better understanding of world problems and certainly a balanced perspective. I had come searching for answers to the many questions were lingering on my mind since I came of age (we all come of age and different ages). Even though I must admit I have had a more balanced perspective, most of my questions remain unanswered. Rather, my exposure to more information, seeing the divide between the developed and 'developing' (not all world outside the developed world is developing) world has left me even more confused - searching harder, digging ever deeper in quest for answers to even more complex problems. One answer begets two questions. The two questions in turn beget an answer each and those answers beget two questions each. The more I learn, the more complex the world becomes.
Oh, but this ( all the searching and digging) is only a 'luxury'. When I was in Africa (at home), I cared little about what was happening in the world. I cared less about 'searching and digging' or about the many gaps (see my previous notes on Africa) between the West and Africa. All I wanted was a decent education, my circumstances defined my dreams. But now that I am having a decent education (we may not agree on my quality of education, but because in this context, I am seeing things from only one perspective - which is what I urge against in this note -, I think the education I am getting is decent. lol), my occupations have changed. The same story goes for everyone no matter the background.
Take people who live in crises-stricken areas, their only worry, their sole occupation is to find a means to survive the crises. In Niger today where there is famine, a person can only bother to find food and survive to see the next day, swimming or going to the gym is a luxury few can afford. In Afghanistan where conditions are so precarious, where the veiled woman standing next to you might be a suicide bomber in disguise, where the car behind you may be packed full of explosives or the wedding of your family/friend might end up being a target for insurgents, one's occupation and worry is to survive the next attack. All other cares about life such as vacations, politics (this or that ideology), human rights, freedom of speech are luxuries. The same goes for people in Darfur and Somalia. In Pakistan now, before the rivers swelled and its banks broke and ravaged lives, people had different occupations and indulged in various activities according to their needs and preferences. But in the wake of the catastrophe, every affected person has only one occupation: how to deal with the flood and return to living a normal life.
The examples I have highlighted above are sadly the case for the more than the bottom-billion people in the world. Where there is no serious crisis or life threatening event, people indulge in various kinds of occupations. What they consider as basic necessities and fundamental rights, such as education, healthcare, sanitation, potable water, etc are luxuries to people in crises-stricken areas. One story featuring Niger on a BBC program, From Our Own Correspondent, highlighted the level of famine in Niger: A giant lizard that ate crops had been spotted on a tree. All the children and even some men went to hunt the lizard for food and camped under the baobab for days (maybe the lizard had even escaped). Now in the West - or anywhere where circumstances are not so dire - you cannot hunt without a license and animals' rights are strongly protected. It will be illegal to maltreat an animal or kill it in any barbaric way. But in Niger, at this time of farming, no one gives a heck about rights, whether it be animal or human rights. A man's environment heavily influences his choices. If we are put in the same conditions as the people in Darfur, we will operate in the same level and capacity as the people there now. If all of Bill Gates' wealth was taken from him and he was subjected to the same conditions as the people in Darfur, or Somalia, he will have but one occupation: how to survive, how to put food on the table and live to see the next day. This is not to suggest that humans are not ingenious or resilient. This is to simply say that, no matter who we are, when we are faced with certain constraints, we no longer function to full capacity, our vision is blurred, we don't dream big, we don't come up with new ideas, we don't go to face book to write notes or blog, we don't function in our full potentials. Of course this is no news and everyone knows it. But what we fail to understand is when we are in a different/better environment than others, we expect much more from those people (the others who are constrained) than we would've wanted some other people to expect of us had we been in the same condition.
"If I were born rich and white in South Africa during the apartheid, would I have been any different? Or if I were born in Germany during the reign of the Nazis, would I have been better or worse than them?" - Jean-Jacques Goldman.
When we start putting ourselves in people's shoes ( asking questions such as the ones above), getting "under their skin" and seeing the story from their own perspectives too, then we would not only see the world through our own lenses, we would not only see the world from the American perspective or Afghan perspective or the Israeli or Palestinian perspective. We would see the world from the Christian and Muslim perspectives, the immigrant and the citizen's perspective. We would be able to find common grounds and strike compromises and the world will certainly be a better place. It will not be us vs. them, or me vs. you. It will be us and them and me and you. It will be a win-win situation. We will be able to trust the girl getting on the plane with the burqa or the dude called Abdu Mutallab sitting right next to us in the train or plane. We will be able to invest in Africa - trusting that Africans too can do business and get a better life - and still make profit, not dole out aid that only helps to empower the rich and disenfranchise the poor. We will be able to see a two-state solution in the Middle East and in Afghanistan life will return to normal. But so long as we see things only through our own lenses, people will continue to ask such questions as, do you have TV or mobile phone in Africa? Is Africa a country? Do you see lions roaming the streets? lol funny isn't it?
As always, your thoughts and ideas are welcome, critical reviews even more so.
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