Whenever we encounter the words “developing world,” we also encounter a weird sense of discomfort. Feelings of guilt and pity come over our bodies and we are reminded of the things that the media has engrained in our brains about the “third” or “developing” world. We think about the black and white commercials that play “Amazing Grace” in the background while they scroll through rolls of film of kids with flies on their heads with their ribs poking through their sun-blackened skin. We think of images of mother and child huddled together wondering if and when they will get their next meal. We think of nothing good.
I have spent the past two and a half weeks in rural India taking in some of the sights of the developing world. I have eaten its food and met its people, seen its sights and experienced its culture, and now I have some truth to share.
The people don’t need your pity.
They have jobs and they are married. Husbands love their wives and wives love their husbands. They get into fights and throw their phones (yes, they have cell phones) across the room when they are mad.
They have homes. They spend hours cleaning them just for them to get dirty and messed up by their kids shortly after.
They love their children. They work tirelessly to be able to put their kids through school because they know that an education is the best chance that they can give their kid in this world. The kids hate homework and they fail their tests if they don’t study.
They get mad at their mothers when they push them to do things they don’t want to do. They stay out past curfew and get into trouble. They have crushes and listen to pop music. They wear makeup and have favorite outfits. They have piercings and tattoos even though they know they aren’t supposed to. They smoke and they drink and they hang out with their friends even if their parents don’t approve.
They have laundry day. They go grocery shopping. They eat junk food like chips and cookies and they love it even though they know it’s bad for them. They exercise and go on diets. They get sick and want comfort food and their moms to take care of them.
They celebrate holidays with their extended family. They hate taking family photos, but they always care how they look in them. They go to fairs and festivals with bad music and even worse food.
They go fishing and swimming and hiking and biking and sightseeing and shopping all for fun.
They have families and friends and homes and food and indulgences, happiness and jokes, and they have love. Their lives are hard, as is anyone else’s at times. Just because they don’t have the same life as you doesn’t mean that they don’t have a good one. They don’t pity themselves or the lives that they live, they just live them. Maybe we should try that too.
