The Land is Everything.

This week in my Environmental Biology class we've been talking about underdeveloped countries and their impact on the world. As you might think, they have nearly no impact on the environment, while developed countries in North America and Europe have a huge effect. If I can step on my soap box for a moment, it's important to consider the fact that with all of our industrialization, we are quickly destroying what is left of the natural Earth. Granted, we are all (including me) very reliant on things like cars and paper and computers. I don't think shunning everything man-made is the answer, but I do think there is something to be said about those who live in underdeveloped countries, those who we might look down on.

I've been thinking a lot about lifestyles in Africa or South America. The people there are accustomed to dirt roads, tiny crumbling houses, and open air markets. But they plow the land with their own hands, they know everyone in their village, and they understand how things grow and develop. They are connected with the land and the culture and each other in a way I do not always feel connected to people in America. Yeah, we go to the same school, we dress the same, we speak the same language, but we have not struggled together. We have not been integrated into each other's lives through marriage and births and deaths like the people of India or Tonga or Africa have. These are people who have struggled against constant and suffocating poverty, but who seem to be in harmony with the Earth, and in a way that makes me very jealous.

I'm wary of making the arrogant mistake of pretending that these people are better off than I think they are. No, I think they're lives can be considered difficult enough. But so are all of our lives, depending on the context, which I suppose is a discussion topic for another time. I guess what I really want to learn from Tonga is how to live in a world that doesn't rely on computers and cell phones and cars, but instead on gardens and people and culture. I think that the people of Tonga are connected in a deep way that I  get a small glimpse of when I'm with the best of friends or immediate family. They are lucky to understand each other so fully. Maybe I'm only making an assumption based on the few things I've seen, but I think they understand the Earth in a way that Americans do not. In our Tongan language class, as I mentioned before, we talked about the kava ceremony. Sione asked us what the kava represented. "The land," we told him. "Yes," he said, "The land is everything to a Tongan."