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Tolerance for Drunk Karaoke, Mani-Pedis with Pride, and Epic Traffic Jams
Learning Happiness in a Developing Country
A young man or woman leaves the hustle-and-bustle of the modern metropolis to find life affirmation, love, and happiness in a simpler life among the poor; think Dances with Wolves, Eat, Pray, Love or Avatar.
Is there a more common plot device?
A great example of this was a book I was assigned in high school: Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve. The same kind of story can be found in the Bible in the experiences of Moses and the Apostle Paul. And as the reader might guess, I’ve taken a bit of this journey and found myself changed strongly for the better, though it forced me to reject the family of my birth.
My intention here is to distill the lessons I’ve learned for the benefit of the readers who have not had the opportunities I’ve had to travel and live overseas, to give them better tools to increase their degree of happiness.
Drunk Karaoke
We have a small house in the Philippines, in Metro Manila, a megalopolis of 15M people, many of whom live in grinding poverty beyond that which most Americans have ever seen beyond a television or computer screen. Our house is not the nicest — most Americans would likely…
