Cost of Stuff

07/10/09

Some Peace Corps Volunteers upon returning home express disgust with American’s seemingly wanton consumption of material resources. I feel they may be confusing who we are with greed. To me it is not that we are consumers of stuff, but that we are consumed by stuff.

Stuff is who I am as an American. It defines me. It is as much a part of me as my politics, philosophy, behavior, and family. To understand me, or American culture, I think one needs to understand the importance of stuff.

My fourth or fifth rake is broken by carelessness of the people who took it without my permission. It is not the absence of a rake that pisses me off, but the casual disregard about telling me, or replacing it. When I find out about it, a simple “Please forgive me” is the only effort for compensation.

The cost of the rake is not what angers me. Samoans don’t understand, it is “my rake”. It is a part of me you have violated. Don’t they realize they have crossed a sacred cultural divide?

Well, I just have to live with my cultural baggage, as they have to live with theirs. Maybe that is this Peace Corps adventure