12/23/05

Do we ever realize just how much we have? I've been on vacation in Europe for a little while, and the sheer abundance of everything, and the ease of doing anything has been a shock.

As I write this, I'm riding on a train cruising along at 300 kilometers per hour. The train runs on electricity, provided by high-tension pylons stretching across the landscape like some gigantic clothesline. There's never a question that electricity will be running through those lines, which will power the train, station, and everything around it. I'm somewhere between Paris and Amsterdam now- when I arrive in less than two hours I'll go straight to my friends' apartment, which has hot water, electric lights that always work, and is a two-minute walk from the nearest bus or train stop.

A world like this, with the things we take so utterly for granted, might as well be another planet compared to the life of your average Chadian. It's been enough of a shock for me to come back, even temporarily- walking through Paris, I found myself marveling at things like crosswalks, the cheese display at a supermarket (not to mention the supermarket itself), and just the realization that I could find everything, everything I could ever need or want in one quartier. Up until September 2004, I'd spent my entire life in this environment, and it was weird enough after being gone for less than a year and a half- imagine how someone from Gounou-Gaya would react- it'd be beyond anything they could dream.

Before I came to Chad, I never would've given a second thought to any of this- it was simply part of my world. Utilities were things that always worked, regardless, fruits, vegetables and foods from around the globe were available around the corner, and if I wanted to travel, it was as simple hopping in the car or going to the airport. Having lived in one of the poorest, least-developed places in Africa for almost a year and a half now, I don't know how I can reconcile such incredible abundance and inconceivable scarcity.

I would never say that we should feel guilty for our success, our development, or the wealth that is a daily part of our lives in the First World. The foundation for it was put in place long before any of us were born, just as Gounou-Gaya is what it is today because of things done long before any of today's Musey were cruising around town. At the same time, looking around the train at the (obviously) well-fed, (apparently) healthy, and (presumably) successful people sitting around me, plugged into their portable DVD players and iPod's, I can't help but feel like we could do so much more to make the world a better (and more equal) place. I'm not advocating Communism, or something, but a little more of the 'share the wealth' attitude would go a long way.

And it's not just big things- does the man sitting across the aisle have even the slightest idea that his two empty Evian bottles in the trash basket would make someone like Ertchey's day? How about the guy in front of him- I wonder if he knows that his leather jacket costs more than cotton farmer in Gaya will earn in three years. Or the Australian guy in front of me, jabbering on his cell-phone about being in Amsterdam on Tuesday, Boston Friday night, LA on Sunday, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Sydney next Friday, and off to Helsinki in three weeks- how could he even comprehend the life of someone like Liva, who's never seen a paved road? That's not their fault though- why would they ever have had a reason to consider it? I certainly wouldn't, had I not spent the better part of the past two years in a place you'd describe generously as Third World. Sure, I might have some awareness of its existence, but it wouldn't really have any effect on how I live or think about my life.

We in the First World simply don't have any consciousness of life on the figurative 'other side of the tracks,' or to be more accurate, a world without them. We hear statistics like "20% of the world lives on less than $1 per day," but how can that be anything but an abstraction to people who live in a world where nothing can be bought for less than a dollar?

I suppose it isn't fair to presume though, that one has to have seen such extreme examples of development or lack thereof to have an idea of our wealth. I'm sure I'm not the only person on this train who's seen the undeveloped world, possibly even Chad. There are plenty of people out there who are aware of the vast inequalities in our world and want to do something to make it better. Places like Chad will probably never rise to the level of development that we're accustomed to, to be blunt, but if enough people do care, perhaps things can at least begin to improve.

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