This I Believe

 

The following essay is a statement of a personal statement that I strongly believe in. I developed this view through personal experience and reflection. 

 

 

The summer after my junior year, I spent ten days volunteering in rural Costa Rica. I was located in a small town ten miles from the Nicaraguan border. I had been to Costa Rica before, but I had only ever seen the highly developed tourist areas. Now, however, even the nearest medical clinic was a 40 minute bus ride down a bumpy dirt path. But among these dusty streets and worn-down buildings, I learned the humbling power of immersing yourself in a new culture.

 

On the day of our arrival the leaders of the program gave us an introduction to Costa Rican culture. We were told that the Costa Ricans have a common expression, Pura Vida. It translates literally to Pure Life, but it’s not really a saying, it’s a way of life. At the time I didn’t understand Pura Vida. I remember being slightly puzzled when I heard that Costa Rica was often hailed as the happiest country on Earth. My mind was transported back to the crumbling town I had traveled through to get to our hotel. I wondered how they could possibly be as a happy as a more developed country.

 

I spent my time teaching English in a one room open aired community building. We were told that children who knew English would have much better job opportunities in the future. On the last day of our trip, we invited everyone from the town to our hotel for a goodbye party. Amid the invigorating chaos of colliding cultures, I learned one of the most important lessons of my life. I was spending most of the afternoon with a young girl who was about five years old. Neither of us knew the other’s language very well, but it didn’t matter. Companionship is universal. After spending an hour or so with her, she reached down and pulled her bracelet off of her wrist. “Un regalo”, she said. A gift. She was offering me a gift. It was a small pink bracelet. The kind that’s just an endless series of spirals. I was stunned. I felt like I should be the one giving her a gift, not the other way around. I was overwhelmed by a sense of guilt from accepting her gift when I knew that I came from a more privileged background. It was then that I finally understood the meaning behind “Pura Vida” and why the people of Costa Rica were so happy. Instead of focusing on material possessions to define happiness, they chose to define it by how they spent their time, and who they spent it with.

 

I was so focused on feeling good about myself for helping a downtrodden town, that I had misunderstood the significance of my entire trip. Mistakenly, I thought that I was only there to teach them, but in reality they were the ones teaching me. Now, whenever I feel worried that I’m developing a sense of entitlement, I look at the bracelet given to me at the moment of my cultural awakening.

 

Experiencing new cultures will humble you. It will make you rethink your values and challenge your preconceived notions of happiness. Whether it’s marveling at the Great Wall of China, lending a hand at a Romanian orphanage, or just spending 10 days in a tiny Costa Rican town with amazing people. How can you know the life you want to lead if you never see how others live?