I was trying to express how the Africans I was around this past year are able to “live in the moment,” take their time, and enjoy where they are in life (their ability to do this is the affect of a long list of social traditions and spiritual conditions in Ghana) – and the American I was speaking to corrected me and said –
“oh, you mean they are lazy.”
Are they??? I’ll admit – there were times when I misunderstood their culture for sheer laziness (and don’t get me wrong – there are inevitably “lazy” people in any culture) – but the longer I was there – the more I understood their “tardiness” and “small talk” (as oppose to rushing around and always thinking about their next appointment) as kindness and community.
What we may figure to be laziness – I believe for the most part, is a culture that has learned to be content.
Here in America – we run around, not making the most of each moment of the day – but rather wishing it away. I was comforted to see a man sitting outside of the court house in Opelika the other day – we spoke longer than any other person I came in contact with. Yes, he asked for money – and I was blessed to give him a dollar.
Was he “lazy” just sitting there or was he content with his place in life?
While its hard for me to believe that he would be satisfied sitting outside begging each day – many of the people I encountered in Ghana were truly satisfied to work all day just to put food on the table (or in the pot) that night … and then do it again the next day. Now, I don’t want to sound presumptuous – but I don’t think many of us pursuing the “American dream” would find that lifestyle very fulfilling? So -
what is the “American dream?” What social traditions and spiritual conditions have influenced it, and what does it look like today?
The “American Dream” is a term first used by James Truslow Adams in his book
The Epic of America in 1931. He defined it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement… It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."
This “American Dream” has changed from a pursuit of equal opportunities for work, to the pursuit of instantaneous wealth and success. We can see this most clearly in our present financial crisis. I can see it also in the children that I teach. Their innate sense of entitlement is frightening. My generation has some of this as well – but these kids see their cell phones and Facebook pages and new Nintendo games – no longer as privileges – but as entitlements. They believe they deserve by their mere existence rights to these things (when it’s the generation that is their grandparents and great grand parents who have worked through the great depression and hardships of World Wars to get us where we are today). We have so much stuff – and we still want more.
So, as always – I am in pursuit of some balance.
If we are too content with life – yes – we will become lazy. But if nothing is ever enough – if we are always after something that appears bigger and better, if we are living for the stuff and the titles – our lives will just pass us by – and we’ll miss out on all the good stuff along the way.
"Now there is great gain in godliness with
contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will
be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils." – 1 Timothy 6: 6-10
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. – Phillipians 4:11
