A little perspective

We’ve been in Miami for the past 3 days. Going back to Haiti tomorrow. The official excuse was Art Basel (http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/). But – I’m not really that much into arts J

After 3 straight months in Haiti, I’m now in the US, and can’t stop comparing.

Some stuff is pretty obvious:

The US is cleaner. The streets, the air, the water, the food.

Everything is organized. A road is used for driving and people respect the rules. Sidewalks are hardly used, since everyone drives. The side of the road in Haiti is where most of the life goes on. You walk, shop, sell, argue and sometimes live there.

Most people are not spending 25 hours a day just surviving. They know where the next meal is coming from and the one after that. They don’t spend every waking moment just to be a little ahead of the rest. Their kids aren’t hungry. They don’t need to talk about hope and change all the time. Having hope is taken for granted.

When you step into the shower, water comes out. A lot of it. And it’s hot.

Other things, I didn’t realize how much I missed until I started enjoying here.

FREEDOM. I can go anywhere I want, whenever I want to. I don’t need a chauffeur, a local person to accompany me, to organize buying bread a day in advance. A car and a GPS. What joy. Yesterday we went to the Everglades National Park. The park is very nice, but the thing we enjoyed most was driving on an open road without boundaries for a few hours.

STRESS – people here don’t want anything from me. I don’t have any responsibility. I don’t need to worry about things slipping.  Nothing depends on me. Nothing is expected. I think this is what people call a vacation.

I’m so relaxed, I can’t help ruining it a bit by being a little worried about going back...