Cross-Cultural Connections: Stepping Out and Fitting In Around the World by Duane Elmer

Author:Duane Elmer [Elmer, Duane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Christian
Published: 2009-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIES

Agricultural economies are not so concerned about seconds and minutes or even hours. More important is “seasonal” time when crops are planted and harvested and the timeliness of rain and sun. The days are not divided into small increments but are seen as opportunities to do the timely thing which could be planting, fixing a machine, helping a neighbor, playing with your child, relaxing, welcoming a visitor or rebuilding a strained relationship. Such activities do not fit into time frames. Each event is as long or short as it needs to be. One cannot determine the required time in advance. Time is elastic, dictated only by the natural unfolding of the event. The quality of the event is the primary issue, not the quantity of minutes or hours. One cannot schedule relationships in fifteen- or thirty-minute segments, not if they are to grow strong. A relationship should take the time it needs to mature and endure.

Since many economies of the Two-Thirds World are agricultural, they often find strict time frames difficult, if not dysfunctional. One cannot predict when friends will stop by. The unexpected friend popping in will get priority over some scheduled appointment. The appointment will be kept, but usually late, after the relationship is properly respected. Local people understand, but those of us from a quantity-time culture must adjust our expectations. It is not an issue of favoritism or respect. If they were talking to you, they would miss an appointment with someone else to sustain the quality time with you.

In many Two-Thirds World countries, buses do not run on a predictable schedule for a variety of reasons. The bus driver may need an extra half hour to load the produce someone is taking to market. The driver may overload the bus causing it to break down. Sometimes, a child runs ahead of the parent to tell the bus driver to wait for an adult who will be along “soon.” The driver will wait knowing the next bus is a day or two later. It is the way things happen. Get used to it. The sooner you adjust, the better you will feel and the more fun you will have.

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