Field Report 7:
San Francisco, CA, USA - January 17, 1999

By Jeff Bell
 

Well it may seem worthwhile to have a journal entry on San Francisco since that's such a known quantity. But the shock of re-acquaintance with the things of home after 5 weeks in Asia/Australia feels like it deserves a comment or two.

First of all, I gotta say that I believe that life is neither better in a rich country with mediocre weather (us) or a poor country with great weather (tropical islands). Face it, their beaches are better, it's easier to smile when the air is warm, and people in general look healthier and happier with a tan. But home is where you feel at home. And you can't get malaria in North America and I suspect it's no fun.

(Current thought says it's OK to remind someone of the relationship between cancer and sitting in the sun, but that'll change, would you feel comfortable reminding a smoker about the relationship between smoking and cancer? I'll chance a tan thank you.)

There is a sense of balance about a planet though that has both types of places—tropical islands are a place for us to escape to and get a little perspective and unwind, and we provide the technology, goods and services that helps keep the world a little more peaceful and safer. More peaceful? Is that true? A judgment call, but I'd venture that with certain exceptions, the vast majority of places on Earth have been free of war for the past few decades because of technology, and while it would require alot of words to make the case, I would argue that technical advances have kept fighting reigned, is helping clean up the planet and with luck will continue to improve on that record. Just an opinion.

In Bali, in spite of the relative derth of Americans traveling there, the presence of the U.S. in their lives is overwhelming. American music and sports is what's most visible, and black Americans make the biggest proportional contribution, which is a unique American characteristic which I believe is tremendously powerful in terms of its message of a possible future of global harmony and sharing. Call me a nut. America though is also associated with technological advances of the 20th century, I say this because I heard this specifically referred to in a conversation between some Balinese, and probably gains from the lack of association with early European colonial rule excesses. Not that we are universally loved. Hardly. I noticed one of the gigolos in Bali wearing a sweatshirt with USA in big letters on it, since gigolos are considered "bad boys" in Balinese culture, I couldn't help but see the public association he was making between his lifestyle and the one we import.

But English is clearly firmly grounded as the default universal language of international communication, which is conveniently advantageous to us, but also opens up opportunities for those in countries like Indonesia to rise more quickly than the rest of the pack by way of mastering English. And what a messy language it must be to learn.

One thing I personally wish we would export, as message number one—that a government is not a good government until it is structured on a system of balance of power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and these countries seem to want to solve the problem of an awful dictator by installing another "leader" in their place. For life. Presumably the new leader is better, but the catch phrase—democracy—doesn't hit the mark, alone it's not the road to a better life, they need constitutions which limit the power of the presidency.

OK, enough of THAT seriousness. It's nice to be able to trust water from the tap and be free of the vague uncertainties of foreign lands (if I get hurt, isn't it a long way to a hospital? How can I make this person understand what I want?), but there are some dingy things here that jump out at you upon returning which are unique to a rich country that can't be categorized as anything but negatives -- preoccupation with get rich quick schemes, winos, young punks bumming for money on the street, ridiculously inhuman ways we treat each other through bureaucracies and efficient but cold ways of getting our conveniences.

It's striking how incredibly complex our lives are here, how many complex activities there are to choose from, and how many you are able to witness just standing on at any street corner for example. In Bali and Thailand, there were no exercise oriented lifestyles (jogging, people riding bikes). For 99% of all Balinese, forget movies, phones, probably even books too. With a simple lifestyle, family and spiritual tradition naturally stay intact, which is the unfortunate side of what we import—a faster lifestyle which tends to break down those traditions. I'd call that the price of world peace and prosperity. Let's hope that's the case.

Here in the U.S., there is a guy in my bike club that is fighting a fight to keep technology out of his life. It seems to me that when in Rome (U.S.), in most cases, it makes sense to do as the Romans. It's kinda in your interest here to go to movies, have a computer, etc. for example, if for no other reason than the fact that if you don't (and they are entertaining too) a lot of people will have trouble finding something to talk to you about. Not that you have to, but it ain't a rotten lifestyle in any way but perhaps spiritually. If you've got better things in mind to do, then I say go at it, chuck all that stuff. (The Amish do it.)

This issue of unequal distribution of wealth around the world has its disturbing sides to it, and I feel I've gotten a good dose of what it emits. Wealth does not equal happiness, so in some spiritual sense, equalizing the distribution of wealth is not a formula for reaching nirvana. BUT, my take is that no one is immune from getting a certain sort of wiff of just how wealthy the group one magnitude above is and finding it disturbing and unfair. In Bali, the "super rich" tended to be completely isolated from the general Balinese people, in virtual compounds that charged amounts per night that equalled perhaps 6 months worth of wages for an average Indonesian. The Balinese know about these hotels and their cost, and are stunned, but rarely met people who stayed there, and are probably stunned to find that these are rather ordinary folks after all in many respects when they do meet them.

Then there were people like me, who stayed in the regular hotels, saving dollars here and there, who are still rich people by comparison who they regularly come in contact with. One thing I know, which wouldn't help them to get their arms around, is that there were literally millions of people like me back home who are just as rich. A disturbing thought. View it this way. We're rich enough that a Balinese day's wage is an amount which we would unlikely to miss if it fell out of our pocket. A disturbing and at times, ugly thought if you happen to mentally slice life in that fashion. On my very last day, having run out of local currency, I faced no less than 6 porters who were willing to share the tip that they demanded of me to get my bags "safely" from the curb to airline counter. They started high, they wanted 10,000 rp., $1.20 at today's exchange rate. I offered a single U.S. dollar. Not good enough, was their negotiating position. OK, two dollars. Excitement, big win, you got a deal they said, and literally 6 guys got involved in taking my bags. At the end I heard what sounded like them cursing the U.S. dollar. It was a good deal for them, but they weren't dumb, I gave myself away when I went immediately from one buck to two, it sent the unfortunate message that an extra buck was no big deal to me. My moment of contrast came a couple days later, sitting a restaurant in the U.S. absolutely shocked that an entre was listed as costing $21 something dollars. Thoughts of insane waste and that line about starving children in Africa that we've all grown up with, bottom line is that it's best if you just never get exposed to the level of wealth of those above you.. unless you can take it. Breeds bad blood. I guess another rule would be, in most regular circumstances, hide what you got, to try to avoid appearing richer (or poorer for that matter) than the circle your traveling in.

To complete the immersion, my next leg of travel is on Friday to Aspen, for about a week, where I will immerse myself in a world of people who are, to turn the tables, richer than I am. Not a new experience, but coming within a couple of weeks of having hung out with, for example, a fellow in Bali who was from one of the 1,700 islands that make up Indonesia, who spent his days making and selling beads, etc. will be an interesting roller-coaster ride.

(This fellow, by the way, said that his island was still very "natural" and was rarely visited by tourists. In fact, he said that you had to contact the chief of the island first to get permission, or else it's possible that you might arrive and get yourself into a bit of "trouble". He was a very positive sort of fellow, liked his life on Bali, and seemed to believe a bit in miracles and/or miraculous, mysterious things that God/gods did. The fact that a lake on his island, very high up, was salt water, he pointed to as an example, as well as the fact that seeds from certain surrounding trees always fell on the ground as opposed to the water, in spite of branches that stretched out over the water. Tell me you haven't heard something similar from someone here in the "scientific" U.S. of A.! People are more alike than you think!).

The plan for 1999 is to ski and snowshoe a bit in Colorado and Tahoe, and then take off solo on one of those around the globe tickets from March to September (and then back to work!), so I'll send ya dispatches...and an itinerary, that's a long time to be out there solo, would probably love some company!

Bye for now,
Jeff
 

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