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No one said anything about telling poor people to travel. The point is that many are already content with what they have. Sure, if they don't have enough food to eat, or access to clean water, that's clearly an issue. But those who have met their basic human needs, generally don't feel unhappy because they aren't buying a new iPhone ever year. I recently spent a month backpacking through India, and the people with the most have nots were some of the warmest, happiest, and inviting people I've ever met in my entire life. From the article, it sounds like Loggan is exactly that. Never complains. Never asked for a promotion. Content with what he has. “He could retire now,” said Javon Chambers, his grandson, himself a Walker Bros. busser for 15 years. “He’s financially straight and everything. I just think he knows when people retire, they die. That’s what he’s said: Old people don’t have nothing to do, they see their friends retire, and then they retire, and that’s when they die of boredom too. It’s like people who are married a long time — if one dies, the next goes right after. That’s like my grandfather and this place. He doesn’t want the will inside him to dry up.” Ambition, in a time of low expectations, in a country defined by inequality, can mean holding on to what you have, internalizing your place in the world. “I think Loggan wanted to fit in somewhere,” said chef Pat Levy, also known as “Popeye”; he has worked at the restaurant 42 years, arriving in Chicago from Jamaica. “I think Loggan just decided to be a busboy. He is content. It’s all he wants. So I ask — isn’t that OK?” For instance, the company took out life insurance on Loggan (payable to his wife); Ray says that for years he’s set aside about $50 a month for Loggan, as an informal retirement fund (subject to a 30 percent penalty for early withdrawal). |
A person can be content with what they have and still find value (happiness, even!) in having more, for a variety of reasons that don't involve naked greed or avarice. It's extremely strange that anyone needs to have this explained to them.