So I went shopping this week. For a birthday present for my little sister. I ended up with a nice enough (though trinkety) little thing and, full of myself for another successful present purchase, I asked the cashier the price. He rattled off a nonchalant Korean number, and (after processing what it was he meant), I was very surprised. Surely he couldn't have meant THAT much. He did. I looked at the gift in my hand. Yep. It was still the same one, the one I wanted to give my sister. I paid and walked out without so much as a regretful should-I-or-shouldn't-I. Later, on the street, I saw similar gifts being sold at a much lower cost. Similar, but not quite the same. Clearly, the one I had bought was not superior enough to merit the price difference, but I found myself absolutely not caring. The money meant little to me. I wanted the one I had, and I had enough money for it. The specifics were a non-issue.
And just tonight, I watched a man in a business suit walking in front of me down the street plug a nostril and blow his nose across the sidewalk. Repeatedly, and without a backward glance, he purged his nasal passages all over the walkway until he was satisfied, then walked on. Such occurrences are commonplace here, as it's not unusual to see Koreans hawk up and spit in internal walkways in buildings. So recently I've decided- by the time I leave this place, I will have developed the vocabulary to inform the practitioners of the phlegmatic arts that this is not only disgusting and dirty, but rude to all around. After announcing my intention to a friend, I was rebuffed with a phrase I've often heard (but rarely stopped to consider)- It's not worth it. I've always found this phrase strange. If I'm able to do something about a problem, whether or not I'm guaranteed success (and indeed, in this situation I'm guaranteed failure, since I can't really stop this practice altogether), then the right thing to do is to do my part to fix the problem. Yes it may cost me time, effort, money, or a potential friend in the form of that Korean businessman I’ve just offended-- but the practice is not a good way for people to go about life, and I have the capability to begin combating it-- so I don't see any other option but to act.
Prepare yourself for this next part if you are easily offended, or if you have been on mars since about 1776. It may shock you with its offensive stereotypes and sweeping generalizations.
Americans
Are not known for being
Very savvy
Tourists.
They routinely overpay for things that any local (or really, even foreigners from other countries) would look at and ask “Are you crazy? There's absolutely no way that little tourist toy is worth even half of what you just paid for it.”
There, I've said it. Have I started any fights yet?
Even though you, noble Reader, are probably the exception to the rule, the One American who Proves they're Not All the Same, it's hard to disagree that the stereotype exists. American tourists tend to be favorite prey for tourist traps because they know the Americans can and will pay whatever prices they set. And why is that? Because they routinely say things like
“Oh I know it's only a paper figure of a tortoise, honey, but it's a Mexican paper tortoise. We can't get those back home. What's twenty dollars going to hurt? We're on vacation!”
How did this come to be? How did a nation born with the value of Thriftiness carved into its psyche come to be the nation known for outlandish expenditure?
The answer to that question was best articulated by English author Philip Pullman who wrote “If you can, and you should, then you must”. America is a nation blessed with the land, population, and natural resources to create, build, and spend on levels the world has never seen. This was publicized to the assembled spectators of nations worldwide in 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the circumnavigation of the globe by the Great White Fleet, America's capital ships. Essentially the entire American navy was painted white for high visibility, and set out to visit the nations of the world as they steamed all the way around the globe. Excessively expensive, an operation that committed the full function of the U.S. Navy to a mission that didn't require any combat. Nevertheless, President Roosevelt had decided that the United States had reached a point where it should show the world that it was a global power. And because power was projected internationally at that time by naval forces, the way to do it was a naval world tour. Being full of the prosperity that would last until the Great Depression, they also had the cashflow to do so. With the funding, he realized they can. With the need to bring his growing nation into a place on the global stage, he realized they should. Can. Should. Must. So they did.
Today, the United States is the largest military spender in the world, coming in at about six times the expenditure of second-place China, and with higher total military spending than the next 20 ranked nations combined. It seems we still buy into the idea that if we can and we should, then we must. Of course, this philosophy has its ups and downs- we can and should do many things for which we have the money, it just means we have to give up money elsewhere. But a decision maker bent on doing the right thing can't dismiss an opportunity because it has a cost or a commitment. I would challenge you to think of a reason that includes the words “it's difficult” to avoid doing the right thing in a situation where you have the power to do so. Now try to say that reason without making a pouty-face.
So yes, the gift I bought my sister does not have the same value as the cash I paid for it. And no, I do not expect to clean up the streets for my efforts with nose-blowers. But both are worthwhile causes, and within my capability to pay the cost.
Last week, when Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALS, I heard a minority outcry online. Many were reticent about a victory that had cost the US massive amounts of money, soldiers, and political capital. “Was it worth it?” was the rallying cry taken up on Facebook statuses that day. However, I stand behind the efforts of Presidents Bush and Obama, both of whom understood that the removal of World Enemy Number One from the Earth was something that should be done. And both knew very well that United States could do it given time, men, and money. Because as Americans, our spirit is not one of “Is it within my price range?” It's a spirit of “Is it good? And am I able?”
Can. Should. Must.
'Til next time,
Jeff-Teacher
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