The Identity Circle Blog

What Africa taught me about us

I just got back from almost 3 weeks in Tanzania, cruising the Serengeti Plains, seeing extraordinary wildlife and hiking about 40 miles with 9 other men. But these experiences weren’t what I remember the most. One of the highlights of my trip was visiting the villages of indigenous tribes, spending time with them and learning from them - about serenity, simplicity, humility. One of these tribes was the Hadza, one of the oldest, remaining hunter-gatherer societies in the world.

What struck me the most upom my return was how we live in a socio-economic bubble in which we assume that our material lives are what makes the world go round. The narrowness of this view was brought home to me when, I was heading home. I was in the Kilimanjaro airport lounge and heard a booming male voice-over on the television declare how bank X was a trusttworthy, longstanding international institution with X billions in assets, blah, blah, blah. After 3 weeks of no electronic communication, the message seemed empty and contrived. I realized, we’ve swallowed our own line of commercial bull, as though it were “the truth.”

The truth lies in the fact that our humanness stretches back to hunter-gatherers, distant ancestors whose skills at living, whose joy in community and whose sense of peace are enviable “assets” we seem to chase but never quite catch. For me, Africa was life-altering and life-affirming. I don’t know how all this will play out in my professional and personal life, but I do know that it will. I return a more complete human being. 

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