National Histories and Identity

From 1999 through 2010, I lived in Caracas, Venezuela. I arrived just after Hugo Chávez began his presidency, so I saw a rather vibrant Venezuela for several years before its subsequent deterioration under Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution. As an immigrant, I saw Venezuela as an outsider, and at the same time, I could reflect on the United States from outside its borders.

In the United States, many people work extraordinarily long hours. Our Puritan work ethic has become hypertrophied in a culture of alienation, postmodernity, and high technology. People in the United States are productive, creative, and generous. In Venezuela, on the other hand, the work-life balance leans heavily in the direction of life and leisure. Businesses are struggling and workers are hungry, but many shops don't open on time and are closed for two hours at midday. Efficiency is almost a foreign concept, and vacations come around faster than the months. People work to live, not the other way around. Weekends are spent at the beach enjoying the sun with family and friends. Late-night parties are frequent in Venezuela, even in the middle of the week. The country's work-life balance is something about which the United States could definitely learn.

Many North American visitors are impressed with the emphasis Venezuelans place on family and friends. With time, however, one discovers that this emphasis stems partly from a cultural tradition and partly because the government and business sectors do not function efficiently, so people need their family and friends (their connections) just to survive. In contrast, one finds that in the modern metropolitan areas of the United States, services function so well that it is really quite easy to live alone independently — a rugged individualist. You can do it yourself, do your own thing, be your own person, be free, individuate, self-actualize, sit in your own apartment, and sink into a magnificent pit of loneliness and alienation — a