What you know Vs. What you Have

In Casablanca, it is not about what you know, but who you know. Contacts, contacts, and contacts-network, network, and network. There are two types of people: those who are humble and keep their contacts and success quiet and those who make it known that they know Mr. A., Mr. B. and Mrs. C and have X,Y, and Z.

Moroccans can be quite humble and lovely (i.e Mr. Casa, my friend Yussuf, Mohammed) or they can be flashy, talkative, and bragging about their life (my fellow neighbor, my lawyer friend, and a few others).  It is interesting how hard people try to show off the materialistic things they have instead of sharing what they know.

Having this conversation with various students and yesterday discussing it with my lovely (humble as could be) friend- it is interesting to see how “wealth” is interpreted by the culture.  In United States, there are many people that are wealthy with materialistic things, but the wealth in knowledge holds much more value. When I meet someone in the US who has thirty years experience working in social service, has direct involvement with the community, holds a PhD in perhaps one or two disciplines, and their words are intellectually stimulating-this is what wealth represents to me.  This person holds much more value to me than a rich actor from the Hollywood Hills who has 6 different cars.  I have met many of both types of “wealthy” people and the one who is “wealthy with knowledge” always comes out on top in my book.     

What value do these materialistic things hold and how are they impacting ones happiness? This is discussed in depth in “Adventures of A Bollywood Solo Traveler” blog.  To reintroduce, the wealthy may enjoy quality and a luxurious lifestyle, which I completely can identify with and understand, but if one has their happiness dependent upon these luxuries this is problematic.  In Morocco, it seems like if you took away these possessions from the wealthy-their identity would be missing.  Some people who are wealthy in Morocco seem very focused on the material possessions rather than knowledge.  The possessions can make a clear statement to others saying, “Look I have arrived.” They have to make their wealth and status known to others to improve their own sense of self-worth. 

Yesterday, I stopped into an electronic store to see if they had a kindle. The Moroccan guy said to me, “Moroccans don’t buy kindles-they buy IPADS to show off to their friends.” Many of the statements about the wealthy in Morocco come from my experience, but also come directly from Moroccans.  They know their country and their culture better than I do as I am just observing, analyzing, and learning by experience. 

To be continued……