Qu'est-ce que la vie?

In July of 2009 I left the United States for a journey that would begin what has so far been the most adventure-laden period of my life; I was headed to a small West African country that I'm fairly sure I couldn't have found on the map without a good long time to search: Guinea.

Every element of my time in Peace Corps Guinea was exotic and incredible and imbued with an almost mythological quality, but today I want to focus on one particular character and the experience he facilitated for me three times a week for close to a month.  His name is Malal, and he bears an astonishing resemblance to Barack Obama.  In order to teach us French, Malal brought a few of us Peace Corps trainees together and asked us, "Que'est-ce que la vie?" What is life?

Every class became part of a continuous discussion where each of us took different positions on what was most important for a life well lived.  The first time we played Malal's game, we made a giant list of all of the possible candidates that might answer his question: family, friends, love, money, health, power, wisdom, art.  Each of us would choose one of these like Monopoly game pieces that we would race around the board.  Malal was instrumental in my French education because he put me in a position where I was absolutely eager to express my thoughts, so I was forced to find the words.  For all my teacher friends out there, take note of Malal's spectacular pedagogy.  The lesson plan is intriguingly simple, and he had all four of us eager to talk each other in circles every day that we met.

I'll share my favorite position to take with you: I always argued that nothing was more important to a life well lived than a person's philosophy.  Intangible though it may be, a person's worldview is the only thing that can even stake a partial claim of ownership to and agency over.  Many will never have healthy bodies or any reasonable chances of accumulating riches, and I'm fully committed to the idea that anyone can lead a happy life, so if happiness were all about health or money, lots of people would be left out.  We're all plagued by countless circumstances beyond our own control, and our last and only hope at exerting some kind of control over our lives is to determine the filter we use to understand our experiences.  Rich or poor, hale or handicapped, surrounded by loved ones or swathed in solitude, given the right mindset and set of priorities, any circumstance can be the locus of one's happiness.