Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Out beyond the power lines
Sunday night found us in "Agua Caliente", a hot water spring about an hour out of Copan Ruins. We began the day in San Pedro Sula and were walking through town. We were approached by a gentleman who asked if we would like to see the springs.
We went.
The experience itself was a good one. We were driving out in pick up truck and told that by foot we could make to El Salvador in an hour. We drove past small towns of 4 and 5 houses. We drove over rivers. We climed and decended two passes. As a family we were able to enjoy something that should remain in memory for a long time. It is one thing to be in Western Honduras. It is quite another to be deep into the countryside in a hot spring.
We returned.
I think it will be the ride home that I hope that will remain with me the most. Dark had begun to settle in as we left the hot spring and began making our way back to Copan. The children were falling asleep which allowed me time to simply look.
We were climbing on of the many hills. In the dark there were two small children (5 maybe 6 years old) who were barefoot up this rocky dirt road. They were walking as fast as they could to try a third child maybe 30 feet farther up the hill. This little girl was trying to keep pace with who I could only guess was her mother. The mother was 10-15 feet ahead and as we slowed to pass I saw was carrying a baby. This was no little hill. She barely looked up. Her focus was on each step.
What struck me was not "poor woman" or even guilt over my being in the truck. (This often happened early in our trip here.) What hit me was that this woman, who lives in a very remote part of the world, does not worry about not having health insurance. What hit me was not my Western transference on her, "Oh, how does she live with out health insurance" (while wringing ones hands) but simply "she does not worry about not having health insurance." I'm not implying that this woman, who I will never be able to go back and ask, does not have worries. She does. I'm sure she worries about the children that she has in tow. I'm sure she worries about daily bread. She may worry about the upkeep of the house and how she is received at the local church.
What struck me was not so much about her but about me. Health Insurance is a big deal in the states. I could not be at seminary with out health insurance. In fact, of the $50k that will be spent by my family of five this year between rent, food, children, and school costs almost 15% of that will go to insurance. It is probable that I will spend more on health insurance this year than the net income of the small village that she is from. That is crazy!
What is so crazy about it is that at first glance I could begin to congratulate myself for being so blessed to have the money. Initially I think this happens with a lot of American's who come through to see Honduras. We come and see the lack of resources and cross ourselves and thank God for providing. I think however that God is calling us to go deeper.
Now, I am all for insurance. In theory it makes sense. The corporate body each pays a little so that the individual if he or she needs it can be protected. So we buy insurance to cover our health. We also buy insurance to cover our cars. We buy life insurance to cover our spouses. We buy home insurance to cover our lenders.
As we drove along long after we passed her,what came to the surface was the realization that we are killing ourselves to never get a scratch. We are living in fear that some grand event will happen to us and destroy us. If we don't pay we might get some disease. If we don't pay we will go broke due to costs. If we don't pay the house will burn down or Jimmy will go blind. I think this fear of tommorrow, these atrocities we are protecting us from, are starting to eat into our ability to live. To avoid these events we continue to fortify, protect, insure, immunize, disinfect, and blocade so as not to get hurt. In the process we shutting ourselves off from each other.
In the process we become scared to live with out it. We want to insure that we will never get hurt. Life simply will not allow that.
And what about the deeper costs. What about the cost of not being able to depend on your neighbors? Are we as close to people as we would like to be? Have we lost something in the states when we all seek to go it alone by making pocketfuls of money so that we can individually, as best as we are able, provide, save, protect without ever having to depend on anyone else. I think Martin Luther King Jr. said it best. He said "The more wealth you have the less commonwealth." I can not even imagine what we lose when we are unable to reach out to one another because we are chasing the dollar to pay the bills. We are working our selves to death so we can have the insurance, the cars, the mortgages, to be able to live without ever being held accountable to the larger society. And we're doing it so that the neighbors who we don't really know will be impressed with how "well" we're doing.
Now I'm just guessing that this woman climbing this back country road does not want to get hurt. This makes her even with every other person on the planet. What may seperate us is that she probably has two things that we are losing in our culture. Now this is only a guess but if she gets hurt I bet that those persons of her village would seek to take care of her. Family would show up or neighbors would help watch her children. The second is also just a guess but I believe that she has a relationship in which she trusts her God. As she has lived her life she has had to share what she has with those around her. Time and time again "Daily Bread" has shown up. I believe that God is more evident to those who have less not because they are any better but because they see the miracles more. With less to block their vision they are less likely to congratulate themselves for "forward thinking" and turn to our God who does make a way out of no way. They see the miracles because they continue to eat and live and breathe.
Who then is the richer? Us who spend 15% of our income protecting ourselves from disaster or they who may not be able to even fathom why we have it?
Link
We went.
The experience itself was a good one. We were driving out in pick up truck and told that by foot we could make to El Salvador in an hour. We drove past small towns of 4 and 5 houses. We drove over rivers. We climed and decended two passes. As a family we were able to enjoy something that should remain in memory for a long time. It is one thing to be in Western Honduras. It is quite another to be deep into the countryside in a hot spring.
We returned.
I think it will be the ride home that I hope that will remain with me the most. Dark had begun to settle in as we left the hot spring and began making our way back to Copan. The children were falling asleep which allowed me time to simply look.
We were climbing on of the many hills. In the dark there were two small children (5 maybe 6 years old) who were barefoot up this rocky dirt road. They were walking as fast as they could to try a third child maybe 30 feet farther up the hill. This little girl was trying to keep pace with who I could only guess was her mother. The mother was 10-15 feet ahead and as we slowed to pass I saw was carrying a baby. This was no little hill. She barely looked up. Her focus was on each step.
What struck me was not "poor woman" or even guilt over my being in the truck. (This often happened early in our trip here.) What hit me was that this woman, who lives in a very remote part of the world, does not worry about not having health insurance. What hit me was not my Western transference on her, "Oh, how does she live with out health insurance" (while wringing ones hands) but simply "she does not worry about not having health insurance." I'm not implying that this woman, who I will never be able to go back and ask, does not have worries. She does. I'm sure she worries about the children that she has in tow. I'm sure she worries about daily bread. She may worry about the upkeep of the house and how she is received at the local church.
What struck me was not so much about her but about me. Health Insurance is a big deal in the states. I could not be at seminary with out health insurance. In fact, of the $50k that will be spent by my family of five this year between rent, food, children, and school costs almost 15% of that will go to insurance. It is probable that I will spend more on health insurance this year than the net income of the small village that she is from. That is crazy!
What is so crazy about it is that at first glance I could begin to congratulate myself for being so blessed to have the money. Initially I think this happens with a lot of American's who come through to see Honduras. We come and see the lack of resources and cross ourselves and thank God for providing. I think however that God is calling us to go deeper.
Now, I am all for insurance. In theory it makes sense. The corporate body each pays a little so that the individual if he or she needs it can be protected. So we buy insurance to cover our health. We also buy insurance to cover our cars. We buy life insurance to cover our spouses. We buy home insurance to cover our lenders.
As we drove along long after we passed her,what came to the surface was the realization that we are killing ourselves to never get a scratch. We are living in fear that some grand event will happen to us and destroy us. If we don't pay we might get some disease. If we don't pay we will go broke due to costs. If we don't pay the house will burn down or Jimmy will go blind. I think this fear of tommorrow, these atrocities we are protecting us from, are starting to eat into our ability to live. To avoid these events we continue to fortify, protect, insure, immunize, disinfect, and blocade so as not to get hurt. In the process we shutting ourselves off from each other.
In the process we become scared to live with out it. We want to insure that we will never get hurt. Life simply will not allow that.
And what about the deeper costs. What about the cost of not being able to depend on your neighbors? Are we as close to people as we would like to be? Have we lost something in the states when we all seek to go it alone by making pocketfuls of money so that we can individually, as best as we are able, provide, save, protect without ever having to depend on anyone else. I think Martin Luther King Jr. said it best. He said "The more wealth you have the less commonwealth." I can not even imagine what we lose when we are unable to reach out to one another because we are chasing the dollar to pay the bills. We are working our selves to death so we can have the insurance, the cars, the mortgages, to be able to live without ever being held accountable to the larger society. And we're doing it so that the neighbors who we don't really know will be impressed with how "well" we're doing.
Now I'm just guessing that this woman climbing this back country road does not want to get hurt. This makes her even with every other person on the planet. What may seperate us is that she probably has two things that we are losing in our culture. Now this is only a guess but if she gets hurt I bet that those persons of her village would seek to take care of her. Family would show up or neighbors would help watch her children. The second is also just a guess but I believe that she has a relationship in which she trusts her God. As she has lived her life she has had to share what she has with those around her. Time and time again "Daily Bread" has shown up. I believe that God is more evident to those who have less not because they are any better but because they see the miracles more. With less to block their vision they are less likely to congratulate themselves for "forward thinking" and turn to our God who does make a way out of no way. They see the miracles because they continue to eat and live and breathe.
Who then is the richer? Us who spend 15% of our income protecting ourselves from disaster or they who may not be able to even fathom why we have it?
Link
