The African Lesson for the so called modern world
Has anyone had a huge desire to go to Africa? I sure have. Most want to go to make a difference and I admit I do too. However, to me making a difference isn’t just helping the continent deal with Aids or their war torn countries. While these are all incredibly important, making a difference to me is so much more. Making a difference is allowing them a shoulder to cry on, making a difference to me means really letting them know that you AREN’T going to give up on them.
This is why I have choosen to go to Africa after I am done school! I hope to go to the refugee camps to make a difference in them. So many people go to Africa to the resorts, and when I bring up my desire to go to Africa people call me crazy. But, I think they are crazy. Who wouldnt want to go somewhere and make a difference.
The other reason I want to go to Africa is something no one else ever really talks about. I want to go to learn something very important. It seems in the world according to North America, that we can’t be happy without material things. We get bored, when we have to entertain ourselves. We our happy when we have enough money to buy something. TV and videogames, and other technologies occupy our time so that we don’t have to be creative. However, in the tribal areas of Africa they smile with no money. They laugh with no money. They are genuinly happy people, living in a world of poverty. And no one stops and admires this. Why is this so? I don’t know, I just don’t have the answer but I am eager to learn. I want to know what that feels like to not be so dependant on material objects. I want to learn what it feels like to not listen to music and appreciate it but to make music, to make clothing, to dance important tribal dances. I want to play soccer with my bare feet and I want to laugh and smile because I have found what it feels like to be happy as a person, and not happy because I am dependant on other things to make me happy. I think this is a lesson Africa can teach the so called “modern world”!
I am not trying to blame the media for this, instead I am just seeing from my own experiences how much I depend on the media to keep my happy and content.
