Journey Through Time

Today I realized I have the insane idea that there is a perfect progression of events in life and that perhaps if I bend my brain like a contortion artist I can figure out how to help make it happen.  The irrationality of this idea that thinking hard enough I might control something is kind of embarrassing. The amount of things in life that I have control over is minimal to nil in reality. Influence, yes. Control, no.

Even those things over which I have influence, its a delicate thing that could be swiped out of my fist in a second’s notice.  One step further, the idea that what I would create (with my mind-bending thoughts) would be perfect somehow is even more laughable!

In the same breath of realization, I thought of my Maasai neighbors who do not see the world this way in the least. Their interface with life and her events is that of submission. They simply react to what happens. Its the nature of the culture not to do much planning or what I call being “pro-active” so as to avoid discomfort or misfortune. Life is truly lived as the old adage says "one day at a time". 

The experience of life here is constantly changing and unpredictable.  It makes no sense to waste energy on planning and expecting it to happen when it probably won’t and you’ll have to change your plan anyway. 

Here in Maasailand, the communication systems, transportation systems, medical systems, etc, are uncertain at best. The rains make the roads and rivers impassable depending on the weather (we know how predictable that is). The health care is minimal and there are no ER’s or emergency evacuations within reasonable reach. Public transportation is infrequent and could leave you on the side of the road at any time for any length of time. You never know when the neighbor or family member may come by with an emergency requiring you to give all that small amount of money you’ve been saving. 

 I remember hearing a colleague of mine say in a matter of fact manner when asked how he and his family were doing, something like, “oh, and  last week there was a baby”.  It just happened- no big deal. 

View of Mai Maahiu, a Rift Valley town 1.5 hrs north of us.

Not that this unpredictability of life doesn’t happen in the US, the difference is that we spend all our waking hours fighting it in hopes of that idyllic situation, that expectation of comfort or fortune or pleasure. In our culture, whether we say so or not, we even elevate these expectations in our minds to be our “God given right”. 

Is one approach to our human journey through time more correct, healthy, logical, righteous, intelligent, plain old better than the other? I don’t think so.  I see the pros and cons, and the moderation and extremes of these approaches playing out in the daily interactions between me and my Maasai neighbors. In each extreme: one suffers from anxiety, stress, discontentment and the other suffers from never getting things done!  

The longer I’m here, the more I see the truth in the statement that all cultures have delightful manifestations of God’s truth and all cultures have manifestations of things that tear us down and mess us up. Idealizing one culture over another is not acknowledging that we are all humans together. 

My pondering however, doesn’t change how challenging it is to live straddling these contrasting approaches to our journey through time.

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