Things I learned in Africa

It may come as a surprise to some that I spent a part of my youth in Africa, about 20+ years ago. Yes, to some of you I'm an old fart and to others still a youngen. But getting to the point, living there taught me a great deal. There are a lot of contrasts to the great old continent, one of them being the sharp contrast between haves and have nots. That's not an understatement. Modernization and trade has brought great wealth to a small portion of people that are a part of growing economies while the vast majority of the population live on far less. Not every city in Africa is the same and Africa isn't the only place where that exists. However, the notable lack in organized education, transportation, and such creates some unique challenges that give rise to unique solutions. These challenges make it very unique. The following lessons are things I learned either from living there directly, or things I learend in hindsight as I looked back on my time there. And before I begin, understand that we are 20+ years into the future from then. In no way is this an article of "how things are different in Africa." It's just what I learned, and I will say that I learned a lot of important stuff.

We are way over stimulated

There are seriously a million things stimulating Americans. In fact, I think most Americans don't realize it but a lot simply live from one high to the next. No, I'm not talking about drugs. Please remove the image of a ratty-haired druggie going from the bong, to coke, to alcohol in the same night...and then waking up and doing acid, from your mind. No rock-stars. This is about every day people. You wake up and go to breakfast/coffee, facebook to news, to music in your car, to suffering through work looking foward to lunch and office jokes, to music, to alcohol/food, friends, TV, video games, more facebook/news/instagram/twitter etc..., then go to bed super late and get by on 5-6 hours of sleep.

Yup, that sounds about right. Literally our lives can become nothing more than a string of highs. You are so caught up in the next stimulant you wouldn't know what to do with yourself if it all stopped. Seriously, you'd be uncomfortable. I'll prove it too. On your next drive to work turn off the music or radio. No smoking; that's cheating. Just drive in silence. You can't use your imagination to watch TV in your head either. You have to actually think about and take in what is going on around you. You can't use transcendental meditation either, as that is also a form of high. (I could take time to explain to those unfamiliar but I can't here for the sake of length). How does that silence feel? How does it feel to actually think about nothing and take in nothing but what's happening around you?

You won't notice it right away. But cut out all that stuff for a few hours, a day, a week. See what happens. Is it getting uncomfortable? Feeling restless and anxious? So does everyone else. At least, those of us who fall into the mainstream of american life.

This is not a better than thou speech. I have been there and felt it. When you fast just music and TV for a week you realize how emotionally detached you have become from the world. And believe me, when you finally come off the high and struggle through the withdrawels, life is suddenly so much more vibrant and interesting. All of a sudden all of those things that are "supposed" to bring you joy, like your family, friends, love; they actually can because now you can feel them and experience them. Before you were just riding the high through everything you lived between.

I learned coming back to America that there are a million things to give you highs.You don't have to be a rock star. There is enough here to keep you on a high your entire day until you struggle into sleep. Heck, all you really need is a smartphone or a TV and you're set. All of this living from one high to the next stimulates our minds and bodies, leaving our spirits agonizingly detached. That sensation you get when withdrawing from all the highs? Part of that can actually be you feeling your spiritual agony again. When you have unresolved issues, internal pain, or a hole in your heart; it can become unbearable. Left unresolved you'll do what everyone else does and go right back to the high. Comfortably detached from reality and unable to appreciate any of the blessings life is supposed to have.

In Africa, you didn't have all of that. Part of that is a generational thing. I had limited video games and television. I certainly couldn't burn a day on Candy Crush. But a lot of it has to do with wealth and technology. For entertainment I and the neighborhood boys would tape together some bags into a plastic ball and play street soccer. You went outside and felt the world act against your very skin when the wind blew or the sun shined or the rain fell. The world drew you in. You couldn't sit in an isolated room and come up with enough to do to keep you busy for weeks on end. There were times where you simply werent stimulated and a lot of people just couldn't physically do that. If you don't even have a job and have nothing to do with yourself other than look for work or food, or nothing; life kinda forces you to take it all in and deal with it. The reward is being more in tune with the real world.

Everything tastes like Soap

When I came back from Africa I learned a harsh lesson that I almost didn't survive. All the chemicals and addatives we put in our food make it takes like soap. Seriously. I am not even joking. Take a bar of soap or spoonful of detergent (PLEASE DO NOT ACTUALLY TAKE DETERGENT OR SOAP AND INGEST IT! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR HOSPITAL VISIT!) and taste it. It's horrible isn't it? You can't eat that. It's poisonous, unnatural, and should give you at the least a gag reflex and some healthy vomitting. That's exactly what everything tasted like.

There was a brief time coming back to the US that I didn't know if I would be able to make it. Soap, soap, soap, everything was like eating a bar of soap. Meat, bread, cereal, sodas, even vegetables and water.  I don't know how I made it, but after the first week or so that taste started to go away. If it hadn't I'm pretty sure i would have starved to death. Hey, when every peice of food or liquid you put in your mouth makes you want to vomit you would feel that way too. I'm much older now and I have no recolection of what it was like to eat anything else. It's probably best it stay that way too. What you don't know is often as great a blessing as what you do know.

There's a million causes and they are all trivial

Here in the wonderful land of the free there are literally a million things you can voice your opinion about. And people get very serious about all of them. In fact, I could not begin to even give examples of them on this weblog. Talking about religion or politics is one thing, talking down a cause akin to saving an endangered animal, fighting an obscure tax law, or raising awareness for an obscure medical condition will land you ultra hate-points from someone somewhere. And I must qualify that those things are worthwhile because if I don't clarify I believe that I will get exactly that. But our causes are often the pet projects the rest of the world can't afford to address. On this little island of isolation called the First World we don't have the life or death mega-issues people deal with in Africa and whatnot, but we take up arms and shoot to kill anyway.

The reason is that everyone has to have a bad guy and everyone has to be on a crusade of some sort. If you talk to someone long enough you'll find what it is. Go ahead, try it with your friend. Just turn to them and start spewing political beliefs or your strong opinions. Unless your friend is your double, you'll stumble on one pretty quick they can't follow you on. Say it strong enough and you might get them to hush up or leave the room. At best they'll start throwing verbal punches. I'll give you a minute, go ahead....did you try it? See? Told you.

So what's the deal? Well, like I said, we are all hard wired to shun something or someone as bad. Americans are no exception, nor is anyone in the First World or any part of the world. It's just that as Americans we aren't seemingly worried about the really big ones. You know the ones I mean. Starvation, tyranny, genocide, slavery, etc... For some reason we have to rally the troops; threaten and bully people, over their opinions or their minor behavioral differences.

As I said, I can't really go into it in detail. I'm sure the internet would give me a pass if I defended the actions of deplorable organization like ISIS (responsible for religious genocide against Christains and Yazidis, rape, child trafficking, slavery, tryanny, torture, mutilation of femail genitalia...if it's in Satan's playbook they've done it), but heaven forbid anyone suggest it's not worth campaigning congress to stop the sale of nachos in schools and you'll be in for it. Well, here goes...it's not worth it! There I said it.

I learned in Africa there are a whole host of issues we need to address before we go on these little crusades.
Don't get me wrong, if you have the ability to address something and the power to change it, by all means do. But if we spent half the energy stopping genital mutilation in the middle east and africa as we have on fighting the marketing habits of McDonald's we'd have revolutionized the lives of quite a bit more people in comparison. The real lesson I took from it was to see the needs of others and, in sight of the big picture, to focus on the basic stuff first. I was worried about not having all four Ninja Turtle action figures when someone I went to school with was worried about having shoes. As a society we have to wise up and broaden our world. Don't start decorating the car's interior before you get it to run consistently.

The Group Think

Americans are group thinkers and desperately want to fit in. I'm serious. In fact, the only thing keeping us from being the hive mind is our past of radical individualism. Now, that individualism is far from diffused and leads to a whole other discussion, but believe me when I say that Americans think alike. The main reason is media. We are all watching the same things over and over again. Everyone tunes in for network television, the same movies, watches the same politicians, pays attention to and argues over the same issues. Media has made the world very small and suddenly put all of us in the same neighborhood.

20 years ago someone from the west coast would have no idea what someone from Texas meant when they said, "I tell you what." (Yes that's a complete sentance). Now they surely do through the miracle of telivision and cinema. When two-thirds of the nation watches the same TV shows; shows that control characters, agendas, story, plot, and uses it to twist your perception and emotions accordingly; yeah you get a group think.

It doesn't take long for something to be picked up by the mainstream media before it's adopted nationwide. Sure there are hold outs, but seriously you can convince two-thirds something's a great idea in less than a week by having a united front in the media. Now before you pipe up about old uncle joe being stuck in his ways understand this; most of this assimilating the population to a group think is being done with the younger generations. In other words, the people spending most of their developmental lives as a part of the network.

The more technology increases communication power the more connected we are. The more connected we are as young impressionable adults, the more we grow up alike. The more the parents are alike the closer their kids will be and even more capable of coming to completeing or perfecting that group think. Aiding this is the rapid growth of technology. It makes people feel like they will be left behind if they aren't plugged in. This creates a great desire to fit in and be a part of the group, further escalating the march to Group Thinking.

You're starting to see it already as the American melting pot with the most diverse people in the world begins looking very similar to one another in ideals and behaviors. It won't be more than a generation or two before these sharp disticintions are little more than minor expressions of individuality. At least that has been the trend. Unless it's regulated the advent of the internet is threatening that. Where many can listen now many can speak too. But time will tell where we go, I am speaking of where we are.

In Africa, you had a much stronger conciousness of community, but your community could be very different than the one next to it. In fact, so different they might not get along at all, or in some cases be at war with one another for generations. But America is a place where everyone "plugged-in" is part of the community. Just as the community has a way of pressing everyone in it into similar ideals and beliefs, so too America has become the same. It's no longer a big deal what city you came from, family you grew up in, or even what ethnic background you have; you can pretty well understand just about everyone plugged into the network and the ability to do so will only get better as time goes on.

We are radically individualistic and don't have real communities

One thing I came back with was a genuine understanding of community, at least a stronger understanding of one; and that understanding was that Americans don't have it. At least not the way I experienced it in Africa. With so many distractions, things to get high on, busy schedules, individual lives; you don't get community.

Each American has their own individual life and that's what the group think tells us growing up as well. Husbands and wives are expected to have separate lives from each other, children are to be different than their parents. You're supposed to work separately, have separate friends, separate interests, and of course your kids are suppose to move far away and learn how to hate you for some reason.

I don't have a PHD in Sociology but that's not the way to develop community. Community is having people intimately know and trust each other. When you are in a bind, you have someone who is able and willing to pick up the slack for you. It's hard enough to get American's together on a weekend night consistently, let alone get them to be able to pick you up on the side of the road when your car broke down.

Because we are all expected to have our own individual little life, we have not planned on making room for others in it. We plan on an individual basis and work people in when possible. You know the stereotypical disfunctional family where mom, dad, and kids all come home and spend the whole evening in separate rooms every night? It's not so uncommon. It's really the new norm. So much so that there are whole movements and peices of media/liturature devoted to fighting the trend.

I saw in Africa community and its benifits. Most Americans, I believe, realize their loss of community, but struggle to find it or maintain it. Most go back and try to rebuild it later in life with their friends or co-workers all the time realizing that the community that may have existed around their original family is not even salvagable. Even so, the actual terms of modern communities is little more than communication and leisure. There's hardly a need or desire to go deeper. It's also a lot to deal with. Having people in your business is uncomfortable unless you're used to it. Americans really aren't on average.

It's like most people in America have a wall up surrounding their heartfelt beliefs and inner-most being. The inner self is suddenly private. No one can touch it and its rude and offensive to do so. Even the closest of friends. Real community is having someone give you their opinion, butting in, and stepping on a little toes; but also havint your back, sacrificing for you, sharing with you, and supporting you and even being a part of your causes. Thats community: its a continent, not an archipelago.


There are things we only value because we are rich enough to not worry about more serious things.

Organic food is nice and all, but how about food without worms? Ozonated and triple purified, enhenced mineral mountain spring water is nice too, but how about water without sewage in it? The first is the wish of First Worlders, the second is a wish of most of the world. 

Americans can get very picky and up in arms about the little things and forget the real miracles of modern society that make life possible and are directly responsible for your high standard of living. 

Hate pesticides on your food? I bet you dont mind that their widespread use back in the "barbaric" early 1900s revolutionized the success of farming and so reduced the spread of disease and pestilence the modern poulation boom is related to it. Isn't it nice you dont have to die of malaria? Stupid DDT, saving all those lives.

You proably cant stand all that chlorine, Floride, and treated yucky tap water, huh? Its sure a shame that for thousands of years cities couldn't grow beyond a certain size because poeple died of things like typhoid, dysentery, or yellow fever. Those dumb chemicals made urbanization and "not dying from drinking water" possible. Madness I tell you.

Yes, in Africa those were the important things. When 2 million people in Nairobi drank from, bathed in, and dumped sewage into the same river, icky chemicals are not a contaminant, their a godsend.

But those aren't godsends to us, we take them for granted. Instead we worry about other things. What on earth are the Kardashians doing? I have a question. Why in the world does it matter? Do we have food or clothes? That's a valid question but when you have plenty of food, clothes, shelter, and saftey you can afford to wonder about the Kardashians or who your favorite team is going to trade for in the upcoming season. 

The fact is that we are rich and developed enough to nit pick the stuff that hardly matters in the big picture. Sure you could spend money to change the paint in the bathroom, but you got a foundation issue. Isn't one of these more important? It at least puts it into perspective. It may seem trivial to someone reading this, but seriously I was very offended by it when I came back to America. I would often ask why my peers were thinking about TV shows, Sports, and Celebrities when there were such extreme issues being faced by so many people worldwide.

No person is immune to this disorder. As humans we have a tendency to take for granted what is consistent and focus on what is not. It just so happens that we forget the trivialness of many of those concerns when our perception is limited.

In any regard, that's my list. Honestly, I learned a whole lot more than just that but for the sake of time and length I really can't go any further. As the world has gotten smaller and people have openned up more to international affairs, the number of people who can attest to these thoughts is quite large. In fact, most people reading this article will likely agree and already be aware of most of these points. Sometimes what goes on around the world just kinda hits you between the eyes though. In any regard, I may get a chance to continue this list in the future. Thanks to everyone who has supported Mosquito Cannon and/or been a part of it. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and appreciate everyone taking the time to read and share.