The Physician Anthropologist: WE NEED TO THINK OF QUALITY OF LIFE WHEN YOU THINK OF THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR COMFORT ZONE LIVES IN THE WEST

dimanche 4 septembre 2022

WE NEED TO THINK OF QUALITY OF LIFE WHEN YOU THINK OF THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR COMFORT ZONE LIVES IN THE WEST

I have had a wonderful trip to France, Israel, Morocco and Tunisia; two developed and two developing areas of the world.

I have been lucky enough to visit Marrakech often but this was my first visit to Tunis.

Being with extremely bright Israeli and French children and seeing the chaos in both Marrakech and Tunis, one is tempted to think in QUANTITATIVE terms rather than the QUALITATIVE terms which are not quite obvious to a visitor, even a repeat one.

Travel broadens ones mind but also remember, it exposes to ideas and the current ideas prevalent are about the rapid changes in the world (not the age old well tested cultural values), the lack of privacy (not the pleasure of company of family and friends) and the overpowering, omnipresent Artificial Intelligence

An average person in Marrakech has no control over the price of food nor does an average person in Tunis has any control (without adding to it himself) over the accumulated garbage in the streets. That does not mean the Moroccans and Tunisians do not enjoy a healthy dose of family life and that they cling on to their traditions and the inner joy being in those countries. It is the Quantitative measures that drive the migration while Qualitative measures drive home the nostalgia and homesickness.

I have a good friend, who now lives in Saint Martin, a French island in the Caribbean. I mentioned to her in a message that French overseas territories seem to be much better off than the independent countries of the region (think of the first ever black republic, Haiti).

She had this to say:

I agrée and I understand and feel for those islands with not so many resources specially for health and education. Those two are the most important ones. The rest, I have understood how little of the rest of what we might call « part of life » people from the islands need. People from islands cherish and are closer to their culture, their roots, habits, and above all - they know how to appreciate and enjoy their land, nature, their little tiny piece in these world, a lot much better than someone from the first world. The wish will be fairness, and peaceful coexistence. One day, … who knows….

I truly appreciated this note from my friend, one of my earliest Cuban friends from Havana who is now lives in Saint Martin. It made me realize that our thinking can be easily influenced by fear of the future, fear of the unknown of the artificial intelligence, just in general FEAR . But being aware of what we have, to enjoy every day, around us, regardless of whether we are in Miami or Marrakech or Tel Aviv or Tunis, and placing importance on quality of life , rather than worry about the price of Capuccino along Habib Bourguiba boulevard in Tunis.

Thank you, my friend AH in SXM and also my new friend G in Tunis