Zombies of the first world

As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill. 

Helen Keller 

The beauty of going to a third world country is that it is not yet wounded by its own skill. The skills and technology we have developed in first world countries have unfortunately stripped us of nearly every innate survival skill we once knew. We struggle to experience life itself-- to think critically, to communicate, and to reason. When everything is just a click away, it would seem that all we have left to do is to live, but yet, we are slowly dying. 

Our goal is to maximize our time and efficiency. We are constantly developing our technology so that we have the fastest phones, can navigate through the web faster via apps, and can avoid getting lost or sitting in traffic by using google maps. In all this effort to maximize our time we forget the very reason driving us to save it-- our family, our friends, our lives. 

Their goal, on the other hand, is to spend time wisely. There is no sense of urgency. So long as your are enjoying your time, what else is there for you to accomplish that day? Dinner in Indonesia always lasted at least 2 hours. The waiters never pressed us for our bill, and even when we requested it, they did not bring it promptly. The mentality is completely different than that in the United States. For instance, if a person in the U.S were to walk into a coffee shop, buy a coffee, and then linger around for three hours, chances are that the barista would make him or her buy another drink. If not the barista, then the free wifi connection would surely prompt the customer to buy another drink. That is a scenario I think we are all quite frankly a little too accustomed to in the U.S; that, however, is not the case in Indonesia. 

While we were in Indonesia, the five of us embraced this concept of time as best we could. Each night we would go out to dinner and patiently wait an hour for our food to be brought out. In the meantime, we casually sipped on our 32 oz. Bintangs, played cars, laughed, conversed, and even debated. We embraced the unfamiliar circumstances of sitting patiently and soberly enjoying company. We got into sort of a routine: drink a beer, place an order, talk, and wait. When we could no longer ignore the howling of our stomachs, we resorted to cards. This had been our routine until the night we decided to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner(...in Bali, I know-- right? The boys were sick of eating vegetables and wanted something heartier. I was perfectly satisfied with my veggies, rice, and chili sauce). Not only did this restaurant serve pasta and pizza in Bali, but it also offered free wifi. This time when we sat down there was no beers, no laughing, and no cards. Instead we sat in silence as we mindlessly logged onto our Facebook or instagram, checked our e-mail, and looked up sports stats on ESPN. Just like that we were all instantly hypnotized by the free wifi. Zombies of the first world.

One of the most beautiful things about going to a third world country is that it forces us to detach from our phones and our gadgets and actually experience life, love, and friendship. For that, I will always have a reason to return.