I just finished reading Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber (who died suddenly last year, I recently found out). The book is an illuminating, scathing indictment of the way the modern global economy dehumanizes us all and causes endless violence and disaster, especially for the poor.
Graeber finishes the book by praising the “non-industrious poor,” and in the afterword, shares a fictional story that his graduate anthropology professor used to tell, which I thought was hilarious and poignant:
A missionary comes upon a Samoan, who is lying around on the beach.
MISSIONARY: Look at you! You’re just wasting your life away lying around like that!
SAMOAN: Why? What do you think I should be doing?
MISSIONARY: Well, there are plenty of coconuts all around here. Why not dry some copra and sell it?
SAMOAN: And why would I want to do that?
MISSIONARY: Well, you could make a lot of money, and with the money you make, you could get a drying machine, and dry copra faster and make even more money!
SAMOAN: OK. And why would I want to do that?
MISSIONARY: Well, you’d be rich! You could buy land, plant more trees, expand operations. At that point, you wouldn’t even have to do the physical work anymore, you could just hire a bunch of other people to do it for you!
SAMOAN: OK. And why would I want to do that?
MISSIONARY: Well, eventually, with all that copra, land, machines, employees, and all that money, you could retire a rich man. You wouldn’t have to do anything! You could just lie on the beach all day!
