The importance of culture

Someone mentioned to me the other day that there really is no need for currency anymore. First of all the bartering system has been employed since the start of time and currency is only an invention of government. Secondly by this individual's argument we should be capable of a world electronic currency that would make the printing, exchanging, and other hassles irrelevant.

To this statement I kindly disagreed. First off those who enjoy collecting different currency would be sorely dissappointed but secondly money is still one aspect that maintains culture.

The Nation of Zambia is comprised of 73 tribes with that many more languages and dialects. In order to bridge the gap the Zambian government has declared English their national language stemming back to their prior English colonialism. This has been one attempt at uniting these tribes, but back to the money. The Zambian currency is called Kwacha with their equivalent of "cents" being called ingwe. The current exchange rate is 6 kwacha to 1 dollar. (5KR to 1USD if you are exchanging smaller bills like 20s). Previously the Kwacha was in 1,000 denominations until a government effort change the value last year.

Despite attempts to unify all of Zambia under their current creed "One Nation Strong and Free" there still exists two worlds here- that of the rural and that of the urban. And in many ways it could be said that of the old and that of the new. And despite a declared national language and national currency the fact yet remains that there are 73 different peoples under one flag. I'll talk another time about the tradition of tribal cousinship as a means of keeping peace and culture but for now let's keep on the money theme.

The old world is the one I live in. The part of Zambia many refer to as "the bush" or "the village." It's the part of Zambia where they don't speak English and they still pay for things with Chickens. To my surprise it's the part of Zambia many urban Zambians have never seen or experienced. It is here that culture and currency is rich. It is here that exists the beauty in our differences.  Cultural differences between tribes still leaves room for many difficulties but the more we try to unite one common thing the more we strip away those very things that make us identifiable. So with all this being said I think there is simplist beauty in bartering. I think different currency is fascinating, though it can be a pain when traveling. But above all I think the idea of currency is that of the idea of language; it identifies us and allows us to carry out our own traditions. Can you imagine a world without brightly colored different sized Euros (another example of standardizing), without the fascinating creatures on Idian rupees, without our rather boring green American dollar bills, without pirates goldesque coins from Honduras, without the Zambian money that is usually so worn you can barely decern its value. I agree it would be highly convienant but aside from that it would be oh so boring! So I for one, rejoice in our differences that define our cultures, currency and all.