whats wrong with you

....somethings wrong with you. Let me fix it


who really needs fixing?
and what is the real goal of 'fixing' and making improvements also know as development?


In the end I believe it is a high quality of life that everyone hopes for themselves and others. But again, what does quality of life really mean? Understanding this question will further the success of any development people set out to create in an area were we see much that needs to be fixed. I believe quality of life means having a glowing prospering inner self (soul, spirit, mind or what ever you prefer to cal it) and protecting this inner self. There are many ways to strengthen ones inner self  such as love, support, hope, educational or spiritual enlightenment. There too are many ways to protect this inner self such as education, good food and water and health care. This is the idea that your body is a temple, all religious connotations aside. 


I would say that a prosperous and vibrant inner self and the means to protect it is the most important thing we can give people and this should be the primary focus of any 'development' pursuit. When your time comes to leave the world what will you remember most and be most thankful for?


Interestingly, while I believe the greatest measure of quality of life being having a glowing, prospering inner self and be able to protect ones inner self it is obvious to me that many people of our 'developed' society struggle to have a good quality of life under this definition. Western society is depressed, desensitized, unfulfilled and stressed with anxiety and worry. While we may have the means to protect our temples (good health care, education and access to clean drinking water and food ect.) the temples which we work so hard to protect are battered, bruised and exhausted. 


In many of our previous Beyond Border classes while discussing development and the idea of assisting others in developing countries an interesting and valid train of thought emerged. How can we be the ones to say what is right and what needs to be done when we are not even doing these things or doing these things successfully on our own soil? We are undervaluing ourselves as natural beings and under valuing our needs as natural beings throwing quick fixes at each other like gifts, distracting our aching spirits with constant stimulation and telling ourselves that we are not alone and everyone feels like this rather than providing our spirits with real nourishment. 


Here's an interesting quote from Adbusters, Capitalism's Terminal Crisis Issue that talks to this train of thought


"During a dinner with friends the talk turns, as it often does these days, to the problem of anxiety: how it is consuming everyone; how the very technologies that we have developed to o save time and thereby lesson anxiety have only degraded the quality of the former and exacerbated the latter; how we all need to "give ourselves a break" before we implode. Everyone has some means of relief - tennis, yoga, a massage every Thursday- but the very way in which those activities are framed as separated fromregular life suggests the extent to which that relief is temporary (if even that: a couple of us admit that our"recreational" activities partake of the same simmering, near obsessive panic as the rest of our lives). There is something circular and static to our conversation, which doesn't end so much as frazzle inderminately out." - Christian Wimon


I am so glad I came across these quotes (I was pointed in their direction after having a discussion about such things with a volunteer at the Queen Street Commons Cafe) as they take the words right out of my mouth but they lay these thoughts out in such an appealing and intriguing way.


While I believe there are many areas which assistance may benefit people in developing areas in protecting their 'temples', such as assisting with school supplies and educational foundations, providing clean drinking water sources ect. people in these 'developing' countries need the power of their spirits and souls recognized and respected. Its interesting, while I hear so much about the negative issues surrounding developing areas such as Kenya everyone that I have spoken to that has gone to this country is much quicker to speak about the amazing spirit of the people of Kenya far before they care to mention the negatives of the area and its 'development'. Their spirit flourishes without fancy cars, 3 story houses, air conditioning, hydro, hot water and for some even much more. 


This brings me to another remarkable quote which I believe expresses with great clarity my thoughts wealth being incongruent to wellbeing. 


"Imagine the problem is not physical. Imagine the problem has never been physical, that it is not biodiversity, it is not the ozone layer, it is not the greenhouse effect, the whales, the old-growth forests, the loss of jobs, the crack in the ghetto, the abortions, the tongue in the mouth, the diseases stalking everywhere as love goes on unconcerned. Imagine the problem is not some syndrome of our society that can be solved by commissions or  laws or a redistribution of what we call wealth. Imagine that it goes deeper, right to the core of what we call our civilization and that no one outside of ourselves can effect real change, that our civilization, our government are sick and that we are mentally ill and spiritually dead - that all our issues and crises are symptoms of this deeper sickness." - Charles Bowden, Adbusters


what do you really want out of life?




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What happened to dreams?
We just live out of habit. 
I can never sleep... 
I only stare at the dream catcher
hanging from my ceiling


- Denise Mush