ocean reef club
Sunday, December 30th, 2007On my way down to the Honduras, I have a 5 day layover in Key Largo Florida where I am visiting with my Dad and his wife’s family at an exlusive gated community, Ocean Reef Club. It is will be quite a striking contrast between the affluence and comfort of this community and the poverty and struggle of the campasino (farmer) community in which I will soon be living and working. Although it is difficult to reconcile the ease and excess I now experience here and siplicity and rigor of The Rio Cangrejal (the river I will be living along), I consider this time an opportunity to view the full spectrum of human expereience. Here at Ocean Reef Club there are no financial worries, there are merecedes modeled golf carts to carry you to the beach, there are no mosquitos as the perimeter is constantly sprayed with bug repellent, there is a fleet of massive yachts lined up, each seemingly bigger and more luxurious than the last. There is no cash, you can only use your ocean reef card to pay for anything including ten dollar plates of chicken tenders.
By whatever circumstances this is the world we live in. For whatever reason some posses incredible wealth, but most do not. I have observed though, that despite this discrpancy of material possession, I have not found such a comparable gulf in happiness. Im not sure that the folks here at ‘the Reef’ are all that much happier than the simple folks of Honduras. From what I hear, happiness is correlated to material possision to an extent, in accordance with basic needs being met, but as wealth increases beyond that happiness does not necissarily increase also.
What are the qualities of life that truly affect satisfaction and fulfillment? I would wager that the real things that bring happiness do not require a membership card or even a house.