Questions of Faith

This morning, as we drove to work with my supervisor and a few of my colleagues, the conversation all of a sudden turned (I don’t know how) to cemeteries, burials, and death. I definitely did not feel like discussing whether more people are buried or cremated back home at 8 in the morning. But my supervisor and another colleague (both women) continued the discussion – how much it costs to secure your own cemetery plot, how many people could be buried in the same plot, etc. And they carried on this discussion in a lively manner as if discussing clothes, vacation spots, or restaurants. I thought about it and then came to the conclusion that people here really don’t seem to be afraid of death. They can discuss it as freely as any other topic while at home most people garner the superstition that if you talk about illness and death you will bring it upon yourself. Here, it seems to be a mundane topic and, in the words of my supervisor, “the only thing we can be sure of in life.” I have also come to realize that people are very religious here. Faith gets them through everything. To this point, I had an interesting discussion with the driver who picked me up from the airport. He was curious about Bulgaria and asked me about the politics, the people, religion. I told him that people (apart from the older generations) are not very religious back home. He replied that it’s exactly the opposite in Nicaragua. Then he added, “It seems that in poor countries where a high percentage of the population has a very low level of education, people cling onto religion. Believing in a higher power that controls their lives almost makes it easier for them to accept the hardship they might be going through. Often though, it results in people just being complacent. The higher power is their excuse for everything that happens to them. It is easier to live that way than accepting you have some control over your life.” It left me deep in thought. I still can’t quite resolve what I think about this. After all, a lot of people in the U.S. are religious and many of them are not anywhere near the poverty line or uneducated. My supervisor here lives with the same kind of faith and she definitely does not fall into that category either. Seems to me that this kind of blind faith is not limited only to developing countries. But I guess in all cases it does provide comfort and an easier way to get through the every-day. To me personally it often seems like it provides a sort of escapism. And I am not sure that escapism is always a good thing.