13 - The Other Side of the Wall

If, when we peak around the wall, we do so honestly, we will discover that to some extent the envious tourists I wrote of at the beginning of this series are right. There are many positive things about countries like the Dominican Republic: vibrant and attractive cultural institutions, creative individuals, successful entrepreneurial efforts. People in the Dominican Republic have just as much opportunity to live meaningful, constructive lives as do people in Canada. In fact, they often seem to have a lot more fun than Canadians do.

There are a lot of things on the other side of the wall. There are people very much like people in Canada, working to support their families, sending their children to school, arguing about politics, going to church. Dominicans have just as much national pride as Canadians do—some have much more. They take as much pleasure–and have as much anxiety–in watching their children grow up. They find satisfaction in work, in sports, in personal relationships, just as Canadians do.

But the majority of them–along with the populations of people living in other developing countries–are also very conscious that they have no hope of ever attaining the same level of material comfort and wealth the average Canadian takes for granted. That is something they simply cannot reasonably aspire to. That is what drives some of them to chance that precarious voyage to Puerto Rico.

Why that is the case has been the subject of the three video series I produced in the past and remains the subject of this blog: Why is there this great discrepancy in opportunities between developed and developing countries?

The way I have previously chosen to try to answer these questions is to begin with an examination of what conditions are like in developing countries and how those conditions came about. That includes a historical analysis, but it also necessarily means looking at the interdependence of nations–at the way in which choices made by people living in more developed countries have an impact on lesser developed countries. It is only after this type of analysis that we will be in a position to search for options that might bring about positive change. And while most of the steps that need to be taken—as in the matter of addressing major environmental issues—are outside the control of individuals, we will also find options available to individuals.

The material to be examined has never been easy to deal with. The issues are complex and the conditions described are often bleak. And it has to be recognized from the beginning that any possible solutions to the current global situation will necessarily be costly, not only to the people of the developing world, but to us as well–the minority of the world’s population living in more developed nations.

So that naturally leads to the topic I am most frequently confronted with during my speaking engagements—the question I am most often asked: Why should we care at all? What difference does it make to people who don’t live in developing countries what conditions in those countries are like?