Who said “developed” is better?
We always use the word “better”
and it seems like we are all chasing after “a better life”
then what is a better life ?
How do you define “better” ?
Is it when you have more money?
or is it when you got a brand new car? or a nice and big house?
Is there an end?
Will we ever feel a life is completed?
If so when is it?
Or we already have a better life but we just don’t see it or feel like it?
I’ve always chased my dreams and things I want and I though it would make me “better”.
I’ve lived in Tanzania for a year and a few months and when I come back to Japan
I saw my country is full of “better” things.
Tokyo is where I was born and grew up and now every time I see all huge and high buildings
I feel like
(people built those because this was “better version”)
We develop because we want more.
and when we developed, we see ourselves “better”
When we see other undeveloped countries like Africa, we say “poor”
One of things I was surprised when I went to Tanzania is people and their life didn’t seem poor at all.
They look happy and full of energy.
Also after I got married with James (a Maasai) I moved to Maasai village and this taught me so much things.
At the beginning, I was wondering why they keep living this lifestyle even though they have money.
Maasai they look for jobs and money but they always come back to the village and never want to change their cultures.
but I see now, it’s because of they are proud of what they are and their cultures.
More importantly, they take only what they need but not more than what they need.
They always “share” their happiness.
For example they never eat alone, they always eat together to share the food.
There is no one stealing food and eat alone somewhere because they want “more” than others.
So when tourists visit the village and give a child a snack or a toy only to him, it will be a problem.
He will be punished later by his family.
They know this greed like “want more” change everything.
I can’t believe this tribe and their culture still exists until now and there is so much things I need to learn from them.
Most of us, we are educated and living in a big and clean city but don’t know anything about the earth.
We talk about things like “eco friendly” “this is good for the environment” nowadays, but it seems like we do that because it’s just a trend or something.
We would still choose this “better life” than actually thinking about the earth.
I know we won’t survive a week when water or electricity is stopped
but Maasai, they are not educated but they know everything about the nature and how to survive.
I am not saying development is a bad thing, no.
If this world hadn’t developed I wasn’t able to fly over to Tanzania for sure
but we should know that development doesn’t always mean “better” as well.
Living in a big house, driving a cool car doesn’t make us “better”.
I think when we developing or going forward we are also losing something was “better”
I believe Tokyo also used to be like a village in Africa.
People were more connected and they share and help each other more than we do now.
I wonder what the world will be like 100years later.
The world will be like a village in Africa? or t will be super high technology so people don’t even work anymore?
Hope I can live longer to get the answer.