The reminder came in a forwarded email in which one of my generation who just returned from the developing world described her new perspective on coffee production. She had just visited a coffee plantation and spoke to the pickers and the owners who toiled to sell their coffee at US$1.60 a pound. In the email, it was clear that the experience at the plantation forced the writer to think critically about the costs of production, including the low wages and subsistence living conditions, and compare that to the costs of her local cuppa joe.
But, she did one better. She did not just THINK critically, but also ACTED critically when next purchasing a cup of coffee, and ACTED critically by sharing her views with friends.
And, apparently, they told two friends…and the principle of viral marketing took root.
Receiving this forwarded email underlines the reason why international volunteer sending agencies are of such great value for motivational change. The increased awareness that comes from visiting and working in a developing country (or any country, for that matter!) leads us to really internalize the needs of the people in that country. Indeed, voluntary activity anywhere leads us to better understand the challenges of our global society…and the need for us to change our actions to improve the society we all share.
Indeed, new experiences are the kind of stimulus that throws our habitual flywheel out of balance and forces us to compensate with some sort of personal change in behavior.
Aldous Huxley, in his 1932 "Texts and Pretexts", has summarized the link between experiencial learning and personal change better than I ever could:
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.
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