Part 4: Spoilt Spoils
When I
played the public good (potluck) game with the kids, it was designed
to show them two things. While the game itself revolved around
money and value and accruing it, the goal of the game was to
demonstrate that A) good behavior has good rewards and B) that bad
behavior has greater rewards. The concept of rewards is what is
subjective to the player. Obviously, telling people they are playing
a game they assume there would be winners and losers.
Their idea of rewards would be reflected in what they considered to
be "winning".
For most people, it
seems fundamental that good behavior has good rewards. This is often
very clear to some. Show up to work on time and you keep your job.
Don't steal and you don't go to jail. Don't copy your homework and
you actually understand the subject matter. Remain faithful and don't
get an STD.
But recall that bad
behavior often has greater rewards. Cheat on exams and you get a
better grade. Pay a bribe and you avoid a fine. Exact bribes and get
rich. Steal money from the state and buy a car. These are these are
the very real situations that people deal with and face on a daily
basis in Nampula.
Unfortunately, if
your idea of "rewards" is based on money or salary or
influence, this will drive the decisions you take to achieve your
reward. If your reward is having a bigger house, you may steal money
from your employer to buy said house. If your reward is a car, you
may bribe an employer to get yourself a cushy state job with the perk
of a car. If you reward is having lots of wives, you're going to
stick it where it don't belong.
If your reward is
doing the right thing, in Nampula that means losing. Losing because
you won't always get into the right school, land the right job, buy
the choisest piece of property, woo the right women. You lose by
someone else's definition. Remember, in our potluck analogy,
absolutely nobody was satisfied with being generous and having
everybody else eat their steaks. They were angry and resentful.
Unfortunately for
people's lives here there is a very thin line between winning and
survival. Sometimes it is the difference between having a thatched
roof or a tin roof, buying rice vs buying cornflower, eating beans or
eating cabbage. Sometimes it is the difference between having a new
car versus a used car. Having a house with a bathroom or using an
outhouse. Other times it is having something or having nothing.
The point is that
everybody defines the reward as having the most. Not just because
they played simplistic game with me and I said so. But because
absolutely everything I've seen proves it. Teachers selling (the
allegedly free) grade school workbooks out of their homes. Pastors
discovered to have an entire harem of women. Farmers uprooting their
neighbors crops in the middle of the night.
However, you might
notice that this is probably a universal trait. I could be in
Mozambique or Mogadishu or Mongolia or Michigan and see people
behaving and acting and coveting in the same way. The desire across
the human spectrum is to have more and be more than your
neighbor. In America, you'd be hard pressed to find somebody not
actively involved in the grand old Pursuit of Happiness. But let me
ask you, is the pursuit of happiness centered on healthy
relationships with your coworkers or a healthy 401-k? Is it on
watching your son's little league game or spending hundreds so that
your kid is the best shortstop in the county? Is it sitting around
the table with your family for dinner, or does each one grab a plate
and leave to eat alone. We say it is about the pursuit of happiness
and then pursue things that don't lead to real joy.
Key to
understanding the pursuit is knowing what to pursuing. It is
immaterial things, obedience, piety, godliness, brotherly love? Can
you be rich and good at your job and still have these things?
Absolutely, and as I've made clear, I'm not trying to judge Nampula
as being worse because, objectively, you find this behavior all over
the world. For better or for worse you can't find anybody that is not
trying to improve their standard of living.
The three examples
I mentioned earlier illustrate the lengths people go to in order to
"win". Teachers selling (the allegedly free) grade school
workbooks out of their homes. Pastors discovered to have an entire
harem of women. Farmers uprooting their neighbors crops in the middle
of the night. All are detestable actions, but one should stand out as
a little different from the rest. Nope, not the teacher. Not even the
pastor.
In Nampula, people
view the idea of winning in a very binary fashion. You win, or you
lose. There is no outcome where we both win. Therefore, if I can't
win, I'm going to find a way for you to lose.
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