First World Countries Aren"t

My wife and I were talking about where our next holiday might take place and I was struck by the thought of 2 recent holidays we took.

It was more along the lines of ‘Lifestyle happiness isn’t based on being a supposed 1st World Culture’

And I’ll tell you why.

Las Vegas

On our Las Vegas trip a few months ago, we had an amazing time.

The place is dazzling.

It’s bigger than Ben Hur in every way imaginable.

The Outlet shopping saw us saving hundreds of dollars in clothing purchases as well as her handbags and Nike runners and the like.

And we ended up seeing both a wonderful Cirque Du Soleil show as well as having all accommodation and food being paid for by the Mirage Hotel we stayed at!  We were exhausted by the whole trip as well as being introduced to how well the Americans can ‘do the show’, probably better than anything else I’ve witnessed.

What we were struck with was the underlying poverty within Las Vegas.

We were in one of the most affluent areas inside the US yet people were begging and picking food out of rubbish bins.

Hey, it happens the world over in First World countries, the US isn’t alone.

This is more a comparison of recent trips.

Bali

I’ve been to Bali a half dozen times and love the place.

It’s gotten a past poor reputation of the Bali Bombing many years ago. That time is well and truly over. There’s guards in the vast majority of public tourist areas and hotels. Bali is a comparatively poor country when compared to here in Australia.

Yet, the people are humble and internally wealthy.

One of our favourite people in Bali, Wayan, is a wealth of information – if you’re destined to travel there, definitely contact him at Tour of Bali.

Everyone seems to work in some way. As an example, the resort we stayed in saw us having a morning coffee on our balcony.

Gazing across the grounds saw a guy climbing a tree to trim the palm fronds.

Interestingly, he had two piles, one of which were carted away by another grounds-person. It turns out, the ‘tree guy’ sold these other fronds to someone else to supplement his income. The fronds were then turned into native vases and other products which supplemented someone’s income.

This seems common, nothing is wasted.

The Difference?

Seems there’s far more of a community feel in Bali than with the population of First World countries.

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So called civilised countries and their societies has severely fragmented the community spirit.

What a detriment that is – your concern is for yourself as opposed for others. That’s the ‘take mindset’ instead of the ‘give and you’ll receive abundance in return’ mentality.

This is just an cursory observation and I suspect you’ll all have your own views as to whether this holds true for you and what you’ve experienced.

What have you experienced to either agree with my thoughts or otherwise?

As always, let us know in the comments below.

First World Countries Aren"t