"Being" vs. "Doing" - The Gringo Dilemma

Yesterday I did something very unique. Something I hardly ever do – whether or not I am in Peru or the U.S.

Yesterday, I sat in a park and watched people. Okay – truthfully, it is not that simple. In all honesty I was waiting for a meeting that was suppose to take place at 2:30pm in a part of Lima that I do not normally go. As it turned out, my colleague never showed up. As such, I got to spend a delightful hour watching people go about their lives.

I was in the burgeoning middle class neighborhood of Magdalena; a Lima neighborhood situated on the coast just next to the popular tourist spots of Miraflores and San Isidro. The breeze was light, the sun was bright and the temperature delightful - the perfect summer day in Latin America.

Yesterday, for a couple of short minutes, I saw Peru not as a project to develop or as a program to facilitate – but as a place where I truly feel at home, a place that is deeply seated in my heart. Grandfathers and grandmothers, business men and business women, mothers and fathers, children and adolescents – everyone was just living their lives. It was amazing to stop, even for just an hour, to really observe the flow of life for the average Peruvian.

So much of my time is consumed with meetings, projects and the standard “hurry up and wait” phenomena. In fact, as the “golden” thirty minute mark (Peruvians are notoriously late – and it is customary for people to arrive for meetings 30-45 minutes late) came and went and my appointment had still not shown up, I started to experience agitation – thinking to myself, “there is something more important I should be doing than just watching people walk by on this beautiful sunny day.” I felt an internal pressure to go and “do” something to fill my time.

Father Alex regularly talks about the importance of “being” vs. “doing” – and how often North Americans are consumed by the “do” at the expenses of truly experiencing the events of life. He will tell the groups that we bring down to Peru from the U.S. and Canada – “please allow you’re self to just “be” for the time you are here. Please let yourself be moved by the experience of “being” with people and witnessing their daily struggles, triumphs, dreams and desires.”

I think it is easy for people who have busy (half of my “busy-ness” is self imposed) lives to fool themselves into thinking that we do not have time for “stillness.” We are always thinking about the next item on our “To Do” lists or planning for our next event, program or project. This “busy-ness” fills our lives. At times, this busy-ness distracts me from what is really important – relationships . . . people.

Yesterday I sat in a park and watched people go about their lives –and it reminded me why I feel so committed to the work that we do. My quite time sitting on a park bench in the Plaza Magdalena reminded me why I feel so passionate about the “William’s” and “Ines’” of the world. Yesterday I fell in love with Peru all over again – just by being!