I was taking pictures in this tiny fishing village when an old man who was painting a boat asked me if I were German - he said he was living and working in Germany for ten years as a young man, in the late sixties, and that in spite of making good money it was killing him - not the hard work as he was used to physical labour, but the whole atmosphere and lack of joy that surrounded work in Germany - as if work was an end in itself - so crazy he said - very unhealthy.
In his funny mix of German and Spanish he asked me what I was doing here. I told him I was on vacation but that I found myself wishing I could live here for good - yet couldn't see how to make a living and make things work. He smiled - then said there were so many Germans and other foreigners living on these islands now and that while they were more than welcome he couldn't help but wonder... why it is that most of them say they weren't happy with life in Germany or England or America, then bring those very values and schedules they didn't like over there with them when they come over here, messing everything up with their strange expectations and principles.
I asked him what exactly he meant and he said Canarios were just different. He said over here life is all about life, about living - but the 'extranjeros' make life all about work, even when they come to live here - and confuse everything, trying to "re-educate" people and teach them their foreign philosophies, cursing the local mentality, instead of simply relaxing and happily accepting the canario way of life.
"So what is the Canarian way of life?" - I asked. He paused for a moment, then said with a shrug: "to simply enjoy life - disfrutar de la vida - is the spirit and purpose of being. Perfection in Germany is clockwork perfection - here the idea of perfection is different, it leaves more room for joy, for life. Here you are considered successful when you make as much money as necessary with as little effort as possible."
I told him that I thougt most people I knew would agree, even in Germany, and he said yes... but he found the difference is in what modern people think is necessary - what they consider "enough" - workwise and else. That a Canario believes that in order to live a good life, a devout yet joyful life, one has to be careful not to work too much... as that would be a sin against life itself. What's necessary is to make only as much money as is really needed, so that there is just enough - no more, no less - to satisfy basic material needs - and spend the rest of the time not working but enjoying existence... and that to show and share your gratitude for life is important... people in Germany don't know how to do that he said... to celebrate life by living it, simply, with others, in company, in joyful togetherness... and that now most young people are like that, even here - they see things on TV and the internet and want to have everything... replacing the quality of life itself with what they call quality items - seeking joy in belongings instead of finding joy in being - he called it blasphemous, and I get it - that to want more than "enough" is a shame and disgrace on a certain level.
It's really ridiculous how our society has managed to turn something that makes us highly unhappy into something desirable that we look up to - being busy has almost become a standard, working too much is a virtue if not a necessity in our part of the world - while over here what we call diligent or industrious would be considered greedy and immoderate - what we call ambition is looked at as avarice - what we consider success, if it comes as the result of too much work, sacrificing time that could have been spent simply enjoying life, is a failure, if not a sin. On these islands, being called a "workaholic" is probably worse than being called a loafer or lazybone... it means you just can't get enough and waste your precious God-given life with something quite unnecessary - ha!! I really like that - now how do I reprogram this contorted German mind? How long do I have to stay here to be successfully brainwashed and readjusted to fit Canarian standards??? It seems to be a very desirable and highly worthwhile state of being, don't you think?
