What Makes A Fulfilling Life? | CR
I've come to realize I know a minuscule amount of information about life. I'm not talking about the times when my friend asks me why air from a fan is cool or how we don't capsize when going through extremely rough waves. I'm talking about the fact that there are over 7 billion humans on this planet and I know so little about those people.
Last semester I took a class called Global Fiction of the South and it literally changed the course of my life. I switched my major because of it, I started reading non-British or American authors, and I began to question problems I had never given much thought to before. One question I kept finding myself asking in the middle of our assigned readings was, "What makes a fulfilling life?" Shockingly I still do not have the answer to that but I'm learning more potential solutions because after all, or at least according to my mom, the world isn't always black and white. In the novels we studied immigrants, destitute individuals, moms, bachelors, poor children, and desperate people. They all seemed to be attempting to change their lives for the better. But why and what qualified as being better?
I was in a school bus on the way back from Montezuma and I was captivated when I looked outside of the window. The greenery was beautiful and the way the sun shone off of the plants was something out of a movie. While the scenery was breathtaking, I was more intrigued by the houses that lined this extremely narrow dirt road. The houses were small with probably no more than three rooms, if that. Most of the doors were open because A/C is not an invention that has hit the Costa Rican market yet. I watched a 14-year-old girl ride her bike in front of her house back and forth while her family sat in cheap plastic chairs outside talking. It was so simple but I bet that wasn't the first time that exact scenario had been played out. No one appeared sad, or poor in spirit, or even unhappy. They all just looked like they were living a normal life.
Americans, for the Ticos, are looked at as the epitome of wealth and education. That may be true in some cases but it isn't always the case. However, they see us as a prize to be had or rarely someone to steal valuables from. But I wonder what they have that I don't know about. They may not be the most educated, the most sophisticated, or the most wealthy but they are happy and living full lives nonetheless. Living here where people spend their days outside talking to others, on the street selling fruit, and doing most of the housework by hand has made me question what life is better? Is there even a better and at what standard are we holding it to? Seeing that girl ride her bike outside of her house in the middle of nowhere made me smile because she looked happy. She didn't look like she needed to be doing 25 other things to occupy her time or that she was stressed about her next appointment. She just looked like she was living the life she knew.
People around the world all live so differently. Usually we think the grass is greener on the other side and that by going to a different place we can escape the life we have become bored with. But what if we could all ride our bikes back and forth in front of our tiny country house with a smile on our face because we know we are living our own lives? Maybe I don't know a lot about people. However, I do know I'm willing to learn different ways to live because the grass might just be greener in 100 F, with no A/C, a very uncomfortable plastic chair, and a bike whose seat has fallen off. So what makes a fulfilling life? I don't know just yet but the girl with the bike looks like she has some answers.
Last semester I took a class called Global Fiction of the South and it literally changed the course of my life. I switched my major because of it, I started reading non-British or American authors, and I began to question problems I had never given much thought to before. One question I kept finding myself asking in the middle of our assigned readings was, "What makes a fulfilling life?" Shockingly I still do not have the answer to that but I'm learning more potential solutions because after all, or at least according to my mom, the world isn't always black and white. In the novels we studied immigrants, destitute individuals, moms, bachelors, poor children, and desperate people. They all seemed to be attempting to change their lives for the better. But why and what qualified as being better?
I was in a school bus on the way back from Montezuma and I was captivated when I looked outside of the window. The greenery was beautiful and the way the sun shone off of the plants was something out of a movie. While the scenery was breathtaking, I was more intrigued by the houses that lined this extremely narrow dirt road. The houses were small with probably no more than three rooms, if that. Most of the doors were open because A/C is not an invention that has hit the Costa Rican market yet. I watched a 14-year-old girl ride her bike in front of her house back and forth while her family sat in cheap plastic chairs outside talking. It was so simple but I bet that wasn't the first time that exact scenario had been played out. No one appeared sad, or poor in spirit, or even unhappy. They all just looked like they were living a normal life.
Americans, for the Ticos, are looked at as the epitome of wealth and education. That may be true in some cases but it isn't always the case. However, they see us as a prize to be had or rarely someone to steal valuables from. But I wonder what they have that I don't know about. They may not be the most educated, the most sophisticated, or the most wealthy but they are happy and living full lives nonetheless. Living here where people spend their days outside talking to others, on the street selling fruit, and doing most of the housework by hand has made me question what life is better? Is there even a better and at what standard are we holding it to? Seeing that girl ride her bike outside of her house in the middle of nowhere made me smile because she looked happy. She didn't look like she needed to be doing 25 other things to occupy her time or that she was stressed about her next appointment. She just looked like she was living the life she knew.
People around the world all live so differently. Usually we think the grass is greener on the other side and that by going to a different place we can escape the life we have become bored with. But what if we could all ride our bikes back and forth in front of our tiny country house with a smile on our face because we know we are living our own lives? Maybe I don't know a lot about people. However, I do know I'm willing to learn different ways to live because the grass might just be greener in 100 F, with no A/C, a very uncomfortable plastic chair, and a bike whose seat has fallen off. So what makes a fulfilling life? I don't know just yet but the girl with the bike looks like she has some answers.
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