A friend of mine recently pointed out to me that we while we have the freedom to vote, we don't use voting to express our freedom. We vote to express our allegiance; we shop to express our freedom. Get it? We buy when we want, where we want, from whom we want. We choose to buy local, buy cheap, buy brand-name, buy second-hand, etc. because we can. We have options, and we exercise them with our dollars.
I am almost packed for my trip to Africa. I have been over the checklist and I think I own everything on it, but I have yet to put it all in one bag. (I hope it fits.) As I looked over the list - that I was given - I realized it had exactly the same problem as the list I was given for Haiti last year ... it doesn't say "nightgown" or "sleepwear" anywhere on it! What else is just-too-obvious-to-need-saying, that I am therefore going to go without?!
Normally I am the queen of traveling light; I can pack for myself and three kids in one Rubbermaid bin! My secret? We never go anywhere that doesn't have a washing machine, and there's always a grocery/pharmacy/strip mall for replacing whatever I forgot. But not so in Mozambique. I asked Betsy how much money I should bring, and she said that last year in one village there was opportunity to buy roasted mice on a stick. So - um - not much commerce... I can't just pop over to the store and pick up what I need.
So here is the question of the day: what does freedom look like in a country with less commerce? Do people there have less freedom because they have fewer options? Is it possible to have more freedom when you are not encumbered by a need to "keep up" and accumulate? Or is there less freedom when so much energy is spent each day on mere survival?
Or, perhaps the biggest question of all, what is freedom, really, and am I too ingrained in my own culture to even know what the word really means?
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