It’s been one of those years. Maybe, though, this is just how life is: unfathomable. Part of the disconnect arises because we’re nurtured into a simplified way of looking at things, a culture of understanding. That’s why almost every Hollywood movie is predictable in its basic elements, isn’t it? (Go on, try to convince me you didn’t know immediately that Gigi and Alex were going to be together by the end of He’s Just Not That Into You. I’d also like to take a moment to insert a caveat here that I saw this movie on an airplane, so please withhold judgment.) As a result, we start expecting life to follow patterns and work out a certain way.
Deep down I believe it does work out, it just doesn’t always work out the way we anticipated.
So there I was, at that turning point between “Hey, I’m using my college degree in a meaningful, long-lasting way and everything has worked out as I hoped” and “Umm, wait, what am I doing?” I’m not yet able to justify my actions or give clear-headed answers regarding my prospects for the future, but here I offer up my most current train of thought.
I think one of the most important things in life is your motives, and I made a concerted effort before leaving for Ecuador to check my motives. If photography and travel were what I was supposed to be doing, then I wanted to do them for the right reasons, and it should be an undertaking that is beneficial to both myself and others. I have high expectations for myself in everything that I do.
It came to me that travel was an opportunity for me to continue a process that began four years ago. It was at that time that I had diversity training and the way I had been taught to see the world was undermined forever. I no longer could unconsciously accept the status quo, where persons have unequal privileges and worth, and therefore unequal opportunities and outlooks. One way a person can be indoctrinated into accepting and perpetuating inequality is the myth of superiority, i.e. “I’m better, therefore: 1) I deserve this (land, recognition, etc) and you don’t; 2) I can, and in fact have a moral obligation, to tell you how to live and be; 3) I can treat you as inferior.”
Through travel, then, I could work to deconstruct condescension toward the “other.” While in Ecuador, I could watch my thinking and not look down on differences or condemn them as strange and ridiculous, but instead recognize the usefulness and intelligence in persons with cultures different from my own and the value and significance in their way of life and methods of doing things.
I was therefore extremely honked off by an excerpt I watched prior to my trip from a National Geographic special on conservation in Ecuador. Non-Ecuadorian volunteers were working with Ecuadorian farmers, teaching them how to treat the land: diversify crops, reduce chemical use, and the like. And I got to thinking, now wait a minute, when economy and urbanization led European arrivals in Native American lands to denude the landscape and throw up industrial centers, no one was telling them what they could and couldn’t do, much less should and shouldn’t. Americans got to exploit the land for the exclusive benefit of humans, and now when other areas of the world are doing likewise, we slam on the brakes and export guilt to countries that drill for oil in the rain forests. The volunteers come off looking like humanitarian saviors and the Ecuadorians come off looking in need of guidance. All I’m asking is, is it really that simple?
And before you jump to too many conclusions, let’s get a few things straight: 1) I’m a conservationist and wish humans weren’t such a scourge on nature; 2) I want people to be interconnected and help each other; and 3) I’m aware that progress has been made on all fronts, I just want to see it go further and deeper.
What I’m arguing against is the thinking that sometimes underlies humanitarian actions, where Big Brother America sees the rest of the world as Little Brother and therefore has the right to: 1) Instruct others how not to make the same mistakes it made, and 2) Patronize, because it thinks it’s better.
A bit of a testy blog, eh? (And perhaps a trifle too many numbered lists.) My point is, I traveled with a purpose and, I hope, progressive motives. And now I’m extrapolating that purpose and those motives to my writing; subsequent postings will ebb and flow around my reflections and realizations while abroad (and will include photographs!). So may the pen truly be mightier than the sword, for I write to conquer wrongs. After all, I can no longer expect anything less of myself.
You might also like . . .
