Site Meter An Optimal World: September 2008

Monday, September 8, 2008

Experience is the best form of Giving

For over 20 years of my life I never felt the urge to have a pizza. For the next 10, I occasionally did and I still do. Why the difference? Before I came to the U.S, I was pizza illiterate - I never saw or tasted one. Until the point of hearing about it, seeing it and then tasting it, I never knew it was good and never craved for it.

Common people crave for things whose existence they are aware of. (Otherwise they are called visionaries, not common people. Let's leave the visionaries out of this for a few minutes and talk just about common people.)

I claim a normal person has three stages of cravings. A not so deep version occurs when someone hears about something new. For example, if someone told you about an island that was almost paradise, you would think "If only I was there...". Pursuing this craving is limited to nothing more than the thought. A person will expend minimal energy pursuing this craving until multiple information sources corroborate this statement. At which point whether (and how seriously) it is pursued is determined by the motivations of the individual.

The second stage occurs when you see something but don't own it or can't afford it. A child who sees his neighbor riding a bike and wants one for himself falls in this category. Now that the child has seen it, he believes it is for real and the urge to touch it, ride it and own it grows stronger. The child will make an attempt to pursue his goal by either making his case to his parents or requesting his neighbor friend to loan it to him for a ride.

The third kind occurs when one has a firsthand experience of something and then craves for more. Say, the child did manage to ride his friend's bike and enjoyed it enough to want to own his own bike. He will be in the third category. His urge to own a bike would be a lot more now than what it was before he managed his first ride.

So, why am I talking about cravings?

There are three kinds of nations in this world, developed, developing and underdeveloped. People in some underdeveloped countries are yet to hear about the living conditions of developed countries. They certainly haven't seen it firsthand. Citizens of developing countries have seen it and some have experienced, albeit occasionally, those living conditions.

The craving of a developing country to achieve the living conditions of a developed country is far more than that of an underdeveloped country, precisely for the reasons outlined above. Consequently the effort put in by the citizens of these countries vary significantly.

Every year, developed countries send billions of financial aid to underdeveloped countries. This money is spent to "uplift" the standards of living of the poor in the underdeveloped countries. Essential things like healthcare and education are provided using this money. However, important this might be, it only promotes a culture of giving and a culture of expecting. It doesn't help underdeveloped countries to become developing countries, it just keeps them right there - waiting for that helping hand.

What can we do about it?

I propose that instead of (or in addition to) shipping billions of dollars in financial aid to the poor countries, show them the taste of living in developed countries. Bring their children to the developed nations and provide free education and firsthand experience of life in the developed world. Bring the youth over for one year of living in relative luxury. Train them and make them work for a year before sending them back Once back in their country, they will work harder to maintain the same lifestyle. They will setup industries, provide jobs and truly uplift their country. They will also talk about the good life of developed countries and through their lifestyle show the taste of development to their fellow citizens.

What is in it for the developed nations? It is in the best interests of the developed nations to do more than just provide financial aid to help the underdeveloped countries develop themselves. First, it is never a good idea to increase the wedge between the rich and the poor in a society. Second, if only it could afford them, an underdeveloped country has a huge potential to be the market for the goods produced in developed countries. That is the difference between local and global optimum for the developed nations.

After all, isn't this what happened in the case of India and U.S? Weren't Indians made to crave for a better lifestyle by letting them live and learn in the U.S? Isn't U.S reaping the benefits of the resultant market created in India for its goods?

Pictures speak a thousand words, but experience has no substitute. There is a good reason why free tasting is allowed in supermarkets. Let the underdeveloped nations hear, see and taste the pizza served in developed nations.