The Pride-less Culture

No sense of ownership.
No jealousy.
No pride.

The !Kung of South Africa are described as an undeveloped people. I am going to have to go out on a limb and say that if this is being undeveloped it is what I want. We describe their lack of cell phones, computers, cars, and televisions as a lack in technology. Yet we fail to look deeper into the intricate designing of bags that they make from the hides of animals, or from the hundreds of foods that they find in the desert and classify in a system ranking food from most to least desirable.

However, what appeals to me most is their view on pride. Withing the !Kung, they are literally forced, starting at a very young age, to believe that whatever they do, whatever animal they kill no matter how big, is not good enough. Say a child comes home from school with an A on the top of his History test, he is praised by his parent and this test may even be displayed for all to see by means of hanging it on the refrigerator, etc. On the other hand, if a !Kung child returns home and tells of a large animal that he has killed no one cares. It is expected of them to downplay what they have done. The child should not say anything of it, and when asked if he saw anything, he should say that he may have scratched the animal. When other members of the community go with him the next day to retrieve the animal, they will tell the killer of the meat that it is a waste of their time, that it is not worth it. What to us may seem mean and disrespectful to them is a way of life.

In this way there is no boasting, there is no trying to be better than someone else. There is no competition, no pride, and therefor, no jealousy, no anger...

I am thinking it is ideal and it is an ideal that we should probably think about adopting it in some sense, to some degree.