So now that I've been in the Peace Corps 10 months, traveled home for 10 days, and then came back, I think I'm in an okay place to look at these two cultures: life in a hot, rural, off-the-map town near Nicaragua, versus life in a sprawling city laced with suburbs, temperature-controlled buildings and cars, and floors that even heat up when it gets too cold outside.
And now for the event that inspired this blog post: I spent 20 minutes in the supermarket the other night trying to decide which protein bar to buy. I'm going to write that again: I spent 20 minutes in the supermarket the other night trying to decide which protein bar to buy. In that time, I could have called a friend, run 3 miles, watched an episode of Sex in the City, visited my grandma, taken a nap, spent quality time with my cat, or taken a walk around the neighborhood. You get the point. Granted, perhaps 20 minutes is a bit pathological, but I can't help feeling...is it really all my fault?
Well according to Camus, I am a 'Balance Bare bar with 20 minutes of deliberation'. But why do we have SO many choices? In America, it seems that choices are synonymous with freedom. We should have the right to express our preferences. We should have the right to buy one of 50 varieties of protein bars. We should have the right to choose Greek yogurt, Bavarian yogurt, Plain yogurt, Goat yogurt, fat-free yogurt, medium-fat yogurt, full-fat yogurt. It is an expression of our freedom that we have the option of selecting out of about 90 varieties of sliced bread, 10 varieties of nut butter, 8 varieties of Triscuits. I guess this falls under the constitutional right to pursue happiness?
But if we are the sum of our choices, and Americans are CONSTANTLY making choices, what are we? I'm sure that Camus wasn't talking only about consumer choices, but it's worth asking ourselves. In Las Nubes where I'm doing my Peace Corps service, we don't make these types of choices. In Las Nubes, our consumer choices are more like, should I buy the big bag of rice so that it lasts longer, or the small bag because it's cheaper? Or, should I buy a loaf of bread or should I make bread myself? At the end of the day, Camus would call most people in my town 'practical consumers' (or 'impractical', depending on who we're talking about). Again, you get the point. So does that mean that it is easier to know yourself when you have fewer choices to make? Maybe, maybe not.
Well, I'll leave you with that to think about, plus some visual comparisons of the two cultures...
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