The moving sidewalk

All the big airports have moving sidewalks that help people cover more distance more quickly.  The results of the effort one makes in walking are multiplied so that, with the same number of steps, one arrives at his or her destination more efficiently.  It doesn’t matter if you are heading toward the terminal or toward one of the gates, there is a moving sidewalk to help you get there.

The impression I have after spending time with people in this part of West Africa is that all their sidewalks are moving in the wrong direction.  The progress they can make seems to have little rapport with the effort expended.  No matter how hard they work, they always seem to end up in the same place.  It is as though they are on a sidewalk that is moving them backward at the same rate that they try to move forward.  If they let down their efforts or are sidelined for even a short time, they actually end up behind the place where they started.  The movement of this sidewalk is carrying them in the wrong direction.

The situation in which our local driver finds himself illustrates the presence of this sidewalk that is moving in the wrong direction.  He owns an old Mercedes, which is a solidly built automobile.  It is the tool that permits him to ply his trade and support his family.  When we were here two years ago, he said his goal was to earn enough money to trade this car in and buy a 4x4 vehicle that would be better adapted to the rough roads and underdeveloped dirt tracks of the area.  It would be more comfortable and roomy for paying passengers.  He could count on a better income to support his growing family, pay for schooling for his children, etc.  He had a vision and he was willing to work hard to achieve it.

Two years later we return to the same area and have the same driver.  He is still driving the same very old Mercedes.  But, now it is two years older.  More and more parts on it have rusted and broken.  Instead of putting money aside for a new vehicle, he has to use everything he earns just to keep this one running.  A major factor is that the road to his village hasn’t been worked on for a decade.  Over the past two years small potholes have grown in some places to deep, yard-wide holes that are nearly impassable.  Any vehicle on the road is subjected to constant vibration for a distance of over thirty miles, so breakdowns are frequent.  In our first week here, the old Mercedes had two torn tires and the rusted tailpipe fell off as we were going over a bumpy part of the road.  In spite of his vision and hard work, our driver is gradually being carried backwards by this sidewalk that is moving in the wrong direction.

There appear to be multiple forces conspiring to control the direction and speed of the backward-moving sidewalk:  governmental neglect that refuses to provide a better road, family pressures to use money for immediate expenses rather than save it, the lack of access to education or training that would make it possible for him to have another job or move to somewhere better adapted to what he can do… and I’m sure there are other factors of which I am not aware.  In any case, there seems to be no way for him to get off this continual movement that carries him in the wrong direction.  He runs against it as hard as he can but makes no visible progress.

One of the unjust characteristics of our fallen world seems to be that for those who are already privileged by favorable circumstances, the sidewalks are all going forward, helping them advance more quickly, while the sidewalks surrounding the underprivileged are rigged to keep them locked in their situation, or even to carry them backwards.  If this group of people lose their job, suffer an accident or serious illness, if their home is damaged by fire, flood, or earthquake, the backward movement is suddenly accelerated, diminishing all hope of eventual advancement and change.  If the movement could just stop, maybe then – little by little – they could start advancing, at least at the rate of their own steps.

As I watch, I feel helpless.  I can help a bit by paying fair prices for their goods and services, but is there anything to be done that could actually change the sidewalk’s direction?  Where is the switch????