For some reason, I am more aware of the beauty of capitalism when I am in third world countries…
Walking down the street this morning in Miraflores, Peru, what may sound to some as complete chaos, to me sounded like beautiful harmony… I watched the world around me, almost as if it was surreal…
The cars racing down every street, heading wherever it is they are going.
The sidewalks full of people primped and ready for a day’s work.
The cement mixers turning on the busy Avenida Pardo while the laborers move the steel rebar on their shoulders up the wooden plank stairs.
The pretty ladies with their fresh lipstick, the men with their slicked back hair and freshly shaved cheeks.
The buses, microbuses, and taxis overflow with riders. People yelling different destinations on the bus. There are the old, old taxis that are held together visually with string, the newer cars… and the Cabify cars that serve you fresh water in the back seat and you can pay for it on your app.
The little food wagon serving empanadas for breakfast, with the small man that didn’t have to duck to fit in the 4 foot door.
The Tropicana casino with the rainbow of flashing lights, the Tranquera steak restaurant that has been there since I was a little boy…
The Starbucks bustling with their valet parking – the valets sprinting down the to fetch the next car.
The local supermarket, Wong’s, which started when I was a kid as a single store, now a multi-national multi billion dollar chain.
The streets lined with small businesses selling copies, home made pastas, Subway sandwiches, Tony Roma’s, local restaurants, pharmacies…
The man juggling tennis balls, providing entertainment for 1 sol on the morning drive.
The little lady from the mountains begging for change with her infant child. The young executive running with their smart phone. The proper ladies at the cashier.
The gentleman that pushes the little button that buzzes people in and out of my parents apartment all day…
The dog walker, the man in the sharp suit driving the tinted window SUV, the young man in the T shirt hurrying along in his Porshe Panamera, the young man on his tricycle selling Donofrio’s ice cream… the carts used to be made out of wood, now they are molded plastic with unfaded graphics…
The signs, the many signs adorning every building.
Down the road goes the policeman, the garbage man, the jogger, the mom, the dad, the older woman who is led by her young helper, the gardener tending to the watering of the local park.
I can’t help but look everyone in the eyes… some focused on their day, some exhausted from their night, some smiling, some frowning, some hopeful, some hopeless….
People everywhere…. Everywhere people… all moving perfectly in synch and yet in complete chaos. Nobody crashes, horns blare. Nobody falls, some sprint.
Every person in a given moment, moving actively in the direction of their dreams…
Some may be stressed or ungrateful.
Not everyone might be “in harmony”… but yet from a distance, it’s just amazing. It’s like a well orchestrated play. It is highly organized chaos. It isn’t chaos at all.
I love this visible and raw capitalism. Everyone in motion. Capitalism is visible here. Often in the US, capitalism hides elegantly behind the trees, inside the homes, and on-line.
There is great harmony in capitalism… before its tarnished, convoluted, or otherwise deformed by the government’s actions.
Capitalism, in the words of Ayn Rand, is simply every man’s pursuit of happiness in the form of value creation, where the only rules of engagement are respecting the other guy’s right to the same opportunity.
Each person, in each moment, living their absolute truth.
Each person, in each moment, pursuing their own dream.
Each person, in each moment, in this perfect balance of value creation and consumption.
Each person, in each moment, pushing against the others while never pushing anyone down.
The taxi driver yesterday told me, “In Peru, everyone drives differently, but we virtually never crash, because we are fully conscious in every moment, and ready to react to the next.”
There is a beautiful harmony in capitalism… it is the only moral economic system… It is amazing how it flows so chaotically, so perfectly, so opportunistically.
Yours in the pursuit…
Nestor Benavides