A Culture of More
A Culture of More
Explaining American Culture to Global Partners II
A few years ago, a friend of mine who is the CEO of a successful home building company described his life as being handcuffed to a treadmill. I can’t imagine a better way to describe how it feels to live in the United States. In this series, we're unpacking important elements in the American context that shape how we interact with global partners in the mission of God. My goal is to help create better awareness of the good and bad that people from the USA bring into ministry and missions from our culture.
According to business guru Arthur Brooks, a high percentage of Americans would rather be special than happy.[1] Our culture promotes personal accomplishment so much that there is great pressure for people in the USA to live at breakneck speed with no margin for what matters most, even if it makes us miserable. To “be the best” in a culture that worships winners requires a commitment to your craft that forces life out of balance, wounds our souls, and harms our families.
Some of this is tied up in our history. The United States was founded by people who left Europe and came to “the new world” for a better life. They were not typically from the elite classes of their home countries. Most of the people who came by choice faced a hard life with little prospects in the old world. They were also those who were willing to take massive risks and abandon everything they had known for a chance at a better life. (Obviously, there were others already in North America or who had been brought here in chains with a different story. But those sad stories are for another blog.)
The way the USA began has shaped our culture to this day. In the USA, we don’t have any nobles. But people everywhere find ways to create classifications. So, we substituted “success” for nobility. Instead of counting titles, we counted dollars. In place of an aristocracy, our nation’s founders sought to create a meritocracy where anyone could rise as high as their work ethic and gifts could take them. To some degree, they succeeded.
If you buy the narrative of meritocracy, then it follows that people are responsible for their station in life. Consequently, we tend to admire winners and blame losers. We define ourselves by our jobs and our productivity, and we assume that people who don’t succeed must not have tried hard enough. To possess high status, we must be high producers. Being busy is a status symbol, and we humble-brag about it. Unlike most of the world that works to live, Americans live to work (a common observation not original to me).
A couple of years back, a friend who comes from a wealthy family and who has many personal accomplishments, asked me what the core value of America is. I can’t remember what I answered. But his reply was, “America’s number one value is “more.” We want more of everything. Your numbers must constantly be going up and to the right. Bigger is better. There is no such thing as enough.” He is right. We want more wins, more success, more money, land, impact, influence, recognition, luxury, recreation, ad infinitum. In American culture, we tend to view contentment as suspect. If you don’t want to get ahead, you must be a slacker.
Some aspects of our relentless drive are good. The USA is the land of invention and innovation. We incentivize it highly. I dare say no other country rewards creativity like the USA. Because we have set up our economy and tax policies to reward research and development, innovation, and impact so dramatically, we lead the world in entrepreneurship and innovation. The rest of the world has grown to expect and benefit greatly from the innovation of the USA. Ironically, many of the great innovators in the USA are first- or second-generation immigrants who came here with a massive drive and determination to change the world. If they succeeded, we have historically celebrated them and claimed credit for them regardless of where they come from. This explains why so many people want to come here.
Other aspects of our drive for more are harmful. “More” can just be euphemism for greed, but it is more comprehensive because it applies beyond money and possessions. We don’t just want more money, land, or stuff. We want more impact, more efficiency, more time, more of everything. Greed is a vice, no matter how we relabel it.
What does all this mean for people in other countries who want to partner in God’s mission with people in the US? Like it or not, here are some implications:
No matter how much we like you, we want to see a significant impact from any project we support. We even use the abbreviation ROI (return on investment) for ministry partnerships. Relationships and trust do matter to Americans, but not to the same degree as in most other countries. A regular request for impact numbers is not a reflection of our lack of trust in global partners, it is core to how we think. At some point, if you can’t demonstrate that your project is producing a good ROI, you are likely to see the funding stop. So, track your numbers and report regularly.
We often care more about how many than what kind. We forget that the character of what is being produced matters the most. In fact, if we don’t know what kind, it doesn’t matter how many. But we get so caught up in metrics that we often forget to ask about quality. If you work with Americans, it is important to help us see the transformation of lives and remind us how much this matters.
We are impatient to see success. We have a hard time staying engaged in things that take a long time to produce results. It takes a lot of vision casting and explanation to keep us engaged in long-term projects. It is very helpful if those projects can be broken down into phases that can be measured as steps toward the major goal.
We struggle to trust people who don’t seem to be working hard and moving fast. We don’t easily grasp how hard it is to be efficient in cultures that are not Westernized or obsessed with efficiency. We suspect the people who live slower, more balanced lives between work and life are lazy. Even if we know better and are envious of a healthier pace of life in other countries, we struggle not to feel critical of people in those cultures. We need reminders of the challenges of being efficient in other cultures and reminders that “fast doesn’t last,” to quote my friend and MRN trustee Jonathan Morrison.
The last thing I want to say to our global family is, be careful about envying people in the USA. True, many of us have homes, clothes, cars, and other luxuries most of the world can’t imagine. That said, we have far more poverty and hopelessness than you likely imagine. In addition, our wealth and comforts come with a hidden cost to our souls, families, and communities. That is one reason we have so much addiction and self-destructive behavior in our country among the wealthy and successful.
Now, I certainly don’t expect people to feel sorry for privileged Americans. Far from it. But the life you see from the outside is not what you imagine. What Jesus said about gaining the world and losing our soul speaks to our culture powerfully. We need help from our brothers and sisters in Christ in other cultures to help us see a better life. We also need to give much of our “more” to those with less money and stuff to advance God’s reign of true life. We need trustworthy partners in other places to do that. In the relationships that form, we can sometimes see ourselves differently and repent into a better life as we empower others to do transformational work in their corners of God’s creation.
Let’s come back around to that image of being handcuffed to a treadmill as we wrap up. God wants his children from every nation, tribe, and tongue to do life together in meaningful ways. What if Americans began to realize that the key to unlocking those handcuffs and getting off that treadmill was in the pockets of global partners? Being in relationships with one another is crucial because it gives us a chance to learn and grow and benefit from others in the body of Christ who can help us with our blind spots and barriers to living life as God intended. Real partnership like that can move us beyond the culture of “More” to a rich, multi-cultural space of “Meaning”.