Happiness

“If you are not growing, you’re dead.”

So I was talking with a good friend of mine here in Uganda today and this quote came up in our conversation.

We were talking about the importance of the work we are doing here. We were both struggling with just how big an impact we could make. Asking each other questions such as “So what if I teach these kids math and physics? What difference will it make in their lives?” or “So what if this man expands his business a little more this year, he is still going to be living in poverty for most likely the rest of his life.”

In a country that has an estimated unemployment rate of 60%, opportunities are few. Even for the students who manage to make it past A level and go on to university. So what impact can we as volunteers really have?

Well, there wasn’t a real clear answer to these questions, unfortunately. But what the conversation boiled down to was this, “If you are not growing, you’re dead.”

Growth can be defined in many ways. One can grow his mental capacity, one can grow his revenue, one can grow by approaching the same problem a different way, one can grow by opening the mind to a new experience. It is not the relative scale in which progress is taking place, but the fact that it is taking place at all. That is the key. Continuous improvement – at any level, is better than none at all. It sounds pretty simple, but I had to stop and think about this for quite a while.

So progress (and people) are like plants, if they are not growing, they are dead. Who are the dead people walking among us? Stay away from them! We must focus on the living!

And that is what we are here to do. That is why we are here. To unlock some of the potential that exists in fantastic abundance. To build capacity, not wealth. Wealth is the result of progress and increased capacity. So many people see money as the end goal, when really it is the result of pursuing something with intensity. It is like a promotion, you shouldn’t seek the promotion, you should seek the personal growth in yourself, and the promotion will follow.

My mind was put to rest. Phew.

So I’ve been reading this book and it has also been helping me discover a new kind of peace in my life. It has been a great experience. It is difficult to describe, but reading this book and living in Uganda for the past two months have already reshaped my perspective on life in general.

When I was living in the states, I sometimes felt like the life I was leading was one based on selfishness. I got good grades and went to college so I could get a good job and make money. And even joining the Peace Corps. What really was my internal reason for coming here? Was it to help Uganda? Or was it to build an experience into my life I know I would never forget and would cherish forever? The latter sounds a bit selfish. Not so?

Today, I realize that none of that is important. What matters, are the decisions you make based on your experiences, beliefs, values, education, etc. And how these decisions ultimately affect your own personal happiness and ability to perform whatever it is you were born or chose to do.

The decisions you make determine your level of your ability to enjoy your work and work hard at it. And there is nothing selfish about that pursuit (granted there are some exemptions). Every soul is endowed with such challenges. And it is certainly a challenge, one of my biggest.

What is my job? Well Peace Corps has made it quite clear for me, I am here…

TO LEARN
To learn from the Ugandans about their way of life, to learn from teachers about Ugandan education, to learn why things are the way they are, and why they aren’t the way they aren’t

TO TEACH
To teach Ugandans about our way of life, to teach math, to teach physics, to teach Ugandans why they should do things a certain way, to teach them why they shouldn’t do them a certain way

TO SUPPORT
My fellow PCVs, the road can be difficult for all of us at times – getting Giardia, getting food poisoning, being stared at 24/7 and called “muzungu” wherever you go, dealing with the cockroaches, the heat, the insane taxis and buses, adjusting to no power, water, toilet, and the smells – mmmmm the smells…can all wear on us

I will close by leaving you with an excellent reading by John Gardner.

…

(read slowly)

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(and with reflection)

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MEANING

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it passes on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success and failure is of less account.