Well Christmas is done and another year come to an end in just a few days. I sure do love Christmas as you know if you have read my previous posts. There is so much preparation, time, and money that goes into the big day, and then when it's over, it's over. Just like that. I love it, but one thing I notice is that every single year it becomes more and more materialistic and the true meaning of the holiday becomes lost a little bit more each year. Gifts become more extravagant, people become too busy where they can't even make the time to shop let alone wrap the gifts they bought, and all in all everything just seems to be more about the dollar sign. And it doesn't just stop at Christmas, no, this has become a way of life for people in North America. It's all about what material things we have, and finding ways to get bigger and better than our friends or neighbors, or about having more. It simply is never enough. This is of course true in the material aspect, but also I've noticed it in the aspects of relationships we have with people. Why is it that everyone seems to always be in competition with each other? Are we all just contestants in this game called life where we can never be content with who we actually are, and so the only way we continue through life is by comparing ourselves to everyone else around us, and either figuring out ways we can get there or surpass them, or by having a pity party for ourselves because we don't have what someone else has?
I know we all have done it at some point. I think it might be a bit of human nature. But I also think it's more North American human nature ( the materialistic part rather) I have done my research within other countries, and I have also had my own first hand experience visiting Guyana, South America this year, and the biggest thing I noticed right away is how they do not place any value on the material things like we do in North America. There is little judgement on what your neighbor possesses over you, and their values lie solely within their families, friendships, and within themselves. What they have does not define who they are, whereas here in North America it's the complete opposite unfortunately. It seems to me that people take precedence in what you own, how you dress, and what you do for work over the actual things that matter such as who you are inside, what stories you have to share in life about where you came from, and what your passions are in life and what you believe in and value. This is one of the things I loved most about Guyana. The people are incredible, and welcoming no matter where you came from, what you have, or what you do. Here's an example ; in my last few days there I had not found the certain souvenirs I was hoping to find so I had looked online before going on my trip and found that there was this mall in Georgetown , Guyana. As much as I love malls and shopping ( hey, I'm a female, leave me alone! Haha!) I wasn't expecting much from a mall there nor was I looking to shop while on my vacation. So I mentioned to my aunt that I would like to check out this mall and see what they have, out of curiosity. Upon telling her that, she had this puzzled look on her face, almost like it was a combination of why on earth do you want to go to a mall and do we even have a mall? She had to stop and think of this so called mall, and where it is. Then she gave us directions and my Dad and brother headed there. Well, it totally and immediately made sense when I got there because although this 'mall' was in some sort of a small building, it was basically like every other street vendor but just out under a roof. There was a single shoe store in there and just some small vendor-type businesses selling little things here and there, some clothes, some knick knacks, perfumes, souvenirs and that was that. I thought to myself " wow, I feel like an idiot for even coming here" The people of Guyana are beautiful, inside and out, some look casual, some look polished, but ALL look happy and proud. They don't give a shit about the superficial things nearly as much like we do. They don't have as much money as other countries yet why does the entire population look so happy, healthy, and well spirited? Going back to comparing it with life in North America, I think it's because they are less stressed than we are, yet the funny thing is WE bring the stress onto ourselves entirely. We let it in. We allow it to happen because we have created this certain type of life with all these expectations and living in competition with others and always trying to appease everyone but ourselves. The focus there is completely different than there. I love how they value the simple things in life. Another example, on one of our last days there we went to Welldaad, Guyana where my Dad was born. After touring around his village and seeing his elementary school he went to, the stand where he would buy candy from, and his very own house with the coconut trees he used to climb, we sat down out back with his family and friends. His old school chum, who still lived in the same house ( as in Guyana apparently no one moves. Once you have built a home, you stay there generally) and he went over to the tree, cut some green mango down , busted out the pepper sauce and salt, and we all sat there sharing mangoes and talking about life. It was one of the sweetest moments of that entire trip. Oh how I envy and adore the value they place in things like that, and I only wish we had the same mentality up here in Canada.
I do make an effort to try bring that feeling back every now and then, and try attract other people around me into it as well. As I've said it before, the human touch is slowly being lost I think, and my old soul craves it back. We should be indulging in the sweet things in life rather than spending our days desperately trying to keep up with everyone else or compare ourselves to others. Why do people do that? It's mentally exhausting and does no good at all. I think we have just become so used to that, and simply put it's our way of life here in our country.
I know that it's not completely avoidable and sometimes we are put in situations where we may feel that we almost have to pretend or lie to ourselves in order to match our surroundings at that given time, but I think that's bullshit. No one should have to pretend they're something they're not. No one should have to feel in competition or allow themselves to feel inferior or superior to anyone, and no one should be feeling jealous of anyone regardless of what they have/don't have or who they are/ aren't. If you appreciate , love, or admire something or someone, say so. If you aspire to be someone you're not, then make that change within to improve yourself so that you're happy with who you are. If you want to make a change or if you want to see a change, then BE that change. Growing up I have always held value in the simple things in life because that's really all we had as a family, and I found myself having to escape to the sweet places and moments in time quite frequently in order to escape what was presently going on during that time, so I have carried that with me throughout my life indefinitely. When I finally got the chance to visit my Dads country Guyana, I came back even more aware, even more enlightened, even more grateful, and even more hopeful for what I could possibly transcend into other areas of my life, and also to hopefully rub it off onto others as well. The world is so different, so diverse everywhere we go, and Guyana was just a small fraction of it, and an example of how I think we as North Americans need to start taking a page or two out of their book.
It's the simple things in life that count, and it's taking appreciation for those things that I think would help alleviate some of our stresses on a daily basis. It's also knowing that everyone is unique in their own way, and we should never be trying to compete with anyone, or compare ourselves to others. We all have a purpose in the world, and what we have or don't have is not the definition of who we are. Dig deeper than the superficial layers and peel them back until you see what's inside. You might just be very surprised with what you find.
