Sobre la vida sencilla

Right now I am in the town of Putre, way back in the mountain desert of northeastern Chile. The town only has 700 people, and the community 1,400. This morning we visited the next largest town of Socoroma, home to 70 people, 11 of which are the most adorable children, who all study in the same room, with the same teacher, sharing desks. To continue their education past sixth grade (which is required by the state), they go live in dorms in Putre or Arica. The nearest health center is a half hour drive, and the nearest hospital two and a half. After we visited the kids and taught them how to brush their teeth with the toothbrushes we gave them, we walked around the town, looking at the houses and the terraced fields that surround it. I was talking to my friend Ammar, and he was marveling at the fact that this town must die out; young people cannot stay, and the old people will die quickly without emergency care. Ammar and others commented that "this is not a life." This struck me as one of the points where our western culture clashes with what we are trying to learn here. For the people of Socoroma, this is what they know, this is their life. I do not see a problem with living your life off the land, spending your time with the ones you love, and dying when it is your time, without being sustained on handfuls of pills or machines. These people live off what they can get from their land, spend their time with their families and their community, and die without painfully prolonging the process. Especially after this trip, being away from the people I care about, I can see the beauty in living just with what and who you need. It saddens me to see that the other people on my trip are unable to open their minds to the other cultures we are getting to know.
Do not worry, I am not going to throw away my life and come live in the back country of Chile. Nor am I saying that people should not do whatever they can to prolong their own lives. I am just saying that we are here to learn about health and other cultures, and for that we need to have an open mind. Our method of confronting these kinds of situations is to send them money or try to move them to the cities where there are steady jobs, but helping people who do not want to be helped is hurting them. If these people enjoy their lives, then who are we to say that it "is not a life"?
I will end with this. To whom much is given, much is expected. I am so lucky to have the life I do, to know the people I do, and to be here learning these lessons. I do not get to run off into the backwoods to live only for myself. I will take what I am learning and use it to make the world a better place to be, and hopefully to help build understanding between people like us and people like the Socoromans.