SOUTH AFRICA
practice compassion.

Don’t get me wrong, up until we arrived in South Africa I was not a totally mean person.  But my actions, even those that seemed charitable, always had a selfish motivation. My host, Machine, changed all of that. From the moment we met, he treated me like family and for the duration of my stay, his whole purpose in life became making me happy. When I said that I had always dreamed of seeing African mammals, he took me on a hunt even though he didn’t need food. When I praised the beautiful carved spoon with which he served me meals, he took me to the eucalyptus tree to make one. When I was gluttonous and ate his dinner portion in addition to my own, he thanked me for liking the food so much. And when I had to leave, he cried as though he was losing a son. No matter who I was, where I came from, or how I acted, he had his whole love to share.

This type of behavior is not unique to Machine. Compassion-based living is the single characteristic shared by every tribe that we visited. Without 'civilized' constructs of posession and individuality, the only thing that mattered, the only thing left beneath it all, was community. Machine shared with me that since his life is composed of elements from everyone and everything else, he loves it all as his own.  He does not see the world as him and me; he sees it all as us. He demonstrated this even in his champion stick fighting where he often proved his skillful dominance to his opponents without hurting them. If compassion can be found in stick fighting, surely we can cultivate it in the West.