“Living on One Dollar” is a documentary about four college students, Ryan, Zach, Sean, and Chris, traveling to rural Guatemala and experimenting with living on just $1 a day.
The quote from the movie that had the greatest impact on me was, “They have so little, yet they give so much.” Zach noticed this early in his journey. This stood out to me because it was the lesson I learned from the movie. Everyone in the area where they were living was in poverty or on the verge of poverty. The citizens did not have much for themselves, but everything they had they were willing to share with others. This I feel is an important lesson, that not everyone around me has been forced to learn. Living in Vail almost everyone is able to rely on their own family for food, water, shelter, protection, education, health and comfort. This way we don’t need our neighbors to survive, so we never learn the importance of sharing. In the area of Guatemala they visited many people who had to choose between education and food or comfort and food. These people were more interdependent on one another and they learned the value of sharing very quickly.
The quote from the movie that had the greatest impact on me was, “They have so little, yet they give so much.” Zach noticed this early in his journey. This stood out to me because it was the lesson I learned from the movie. Everyone in the area where they were living was in poverty or on the verge of poverty. The citizens did not have much for themselves, but everything they had they were willing to share with others. This I feel is an important lesson, that not everyone around me has been forced to learn. Living in Vail almost everyone is able to rely on their own family for food, water, shelter, protection, education, health and comfort. This way we don’t need our neighbors to survive, so we never learn the importance of sharing. In the area of Guatemala they visited many people who had to choose between education and food or comfort and food. These people were more interdependent on one another and they learned the value of sharing very quickly.
While the college students were away they struggled against health issues, financial stress, and hunger. These would be very hard conditions to live in. I believe that I could withstand these conditions for a short period of time like one or two months, but not forever. I think that in order for me to stay positive I would need to live with the knowledge that I was going to return to stability in the near future.
I think the most challenging part of living in poverty would be watching everyone around me suffer, and feeling so helpless. If I myself were living in poverty, I would still want desperately to help others out of it, but I would not have the ability to do so. This would be extremely difficult because you and everyone you know and love would be just barely surviving, and there would be little you could do to change the situation. In the documentary, the boys were interviewing Rosa, and she was explaining to them that she wanted to go to school so badly, but didn't have the money to pursue her dream. Just watching this I wanted to help her, so I can’t imagine having this discussion with her. If I were living in poverty and participating in this conversation I would still greatly want to assist her, but it would not be in my power to do so and that would be very tough.
What I noticed the Guatemalans valued was very different than what I value. I know I value innovation and technology. I, and many others around me, use technology often throughout the day. This has made technology a part of my life, and part of my values. I also value personal control. Being able to control the situations that I am placed in makes me feel comfortable and safe. Although, I noticed the Guatemalan’s in the movie could not even control their salary, so they could not have personal control over something as simple as their paycheck. The people in the film valued something I often take for granted; education. In America, it is a law that everyone must attend school, so we don’t often see it as something to be extremely grateful for; however, in rural Guatemala,education is a ticket out of poverty, so if you have the opportunity to be educated you are very lucky.
From this documentary I learned to be open minded and be generous. I can apply this to my service trip because I will keep those lessons in mind when I am working in Cambodia. Knowing to be open minded will help me embrace the culture and learn more from the people. If I am open minded after I see what the culture is like I will be fully accepting of what they do and how they do it. After I accept the lifestyle I can practice it more fully. I also understand that when I am generous I can give more. I can give more support, work, and love to the people we are working with. This will be important because the more I give the greater impact I will have.
No comments:
Post a Comment