Random Thoughts on Culture: Part 1

I'm thinking there will be 3 parts to these thoughts. If I posted it all at once it would be a longer post than I would ever read, so I can't really expect others to read it. Here's part 1:

After 4 years living abroad there is one thing I know for sure about culture: it is complex. You can study a particular culture, the language, the customs, even live there, but you will not fully understand it. Maybe there is a point at which you do, but it is much longer than 4 years! There is a lot we have learned about Tanzanian and Sukuma people, but there is much more that still doesn’t make sense. Even when I try to let go of my own culture, the logic that it has ingrained in me is so deep that I can never fully see through Tanzanian eyes.

Here is an example. In Tanzania there is no concept of lining up as we do in America. When you find yourself in any situation where Americans would form a nice orderly line and take turns, Tanzanians form a hug mob of people all pushing towards the front. There are people touching you on all sides and as you reach the window or desk where you are trying to pay (or whatever you’re doing) everyone within reach is holding out their money waving it in the face of the person taking the money until theirs is taken. To an American this sounds bizarre and completely illogical and having participated in the mob on many occasions I can say that it has certainly made me question the intelligence of this “system”.  Even in places where lines are more accepted (Dar es Salaam) I’ve found that if I leave space between myself and the person in front of me someone will step between us, no matter how clear it is that I am in fact in the line. However, when I step back and begin to look at our American solution to this problem I realize it may not be completely logical either. We function on a first come first serve basis. Fairness to us means that people are helped in the order they arrived. But, is that really the most fair thing? What if instead of lines at the Walmart checkout we formed circles. The people in each circle could discuss the reasons they need to finish their shopping excursion and check out in a need based order. For instance, consider the single mom who has dashed in to pick up a posterboard when she didn’t really have time because her son waited till the last minute to mention that he needed it for his school project. She’s now late to pick up her daughter from soccer practice and her mom, who lives with them, is at home sick waiting on the medicine she just picked up from the pharmacy. Should she really have to wait on the retired couple who have absolutely no where to be and are happy to be out of the house just because they happened to arrive first? I’m sure this system has flaws as well, but my point here is that I have a tendency to assume that my American logic, concept of fairness and right and wrong is fully correct when it is really just what fits my culture. I’ve yet to figure out the reasoning behind the Tanzanian mob system, but I’m certain there is one. Sometimes in the Christian West we tend to think that our ideas on these issues even come from a Biblical perspective, but I don’t recall Jesus teaching the “first come first serve” concept. In fact I seem to recall something about the first shall be last and the last shall be first... now that would make for a complicated checkout line.