In 10 days I'll be leaving on a jet plane and boy am I ready. I could tell you all the things I would miss and things I won't miss, but really I won't be missing all that much. I'm tired of being frustrated and seeing so many things that could be better but not being able to do anything about them. I've come to understand that just about all of the problems here and no doubt in the rest of the third world could be solved from within but our discouraged from doing so from outside influences. The 1st and 2nd world don't want the competition and actively work to undermine the average working class. Sure, the 1st and 2nd world make a good show of how they're helping them, but how come all of these people are still poor and ignorant?
I'm just tired of living in it. I want to be somewhere where I can have some real influence. It's like how they talk about Earth avoiding an asteroid. If you can change the asteroid's course even the tiniest bit at the heart of the problem, the farther the better, that little change becomes a large change by the time it gets to Earth. So I'm looking at it that way. I'm going back to the states, but you better believe living in Baltimore I'm going to be demonstrating in D.C. every chance I get. If there's any rally that you want to go to and need a place to crash, you've got one. Just let me know.
One of the things I've come to recognize here is that people need a goal to strive for. Education gives them examples of goals they could achieve and a practical way to do it. I've often wondered how someone could be so content doing the same repetitive tasks every day until they die. I don't understand what they look forward to, but I think it has to do somewhat with the "ignorance is bliss" idea.
There's a guy in Darren's village named Tomas who is far more involved in just about everything in that village than I've ever seen anyone. His drive to be so involved started after one of the church groups brought him for a visit to the U.S. The trip made him believe that the churches should be giving more to them because of all the wealth he saw. It also gave him a goal, something to aim for. Unfortunately, he's turned that into a personal power struggle. He took his son out of school to work in the fields so he could go participate in more organizations and such. Clearly, he's missing the point and is more concerned with improving himself than his family, but if all of that zeal could be focused in a better way people here could really improve their situation a lot.
Basically it comes down to foreign aid from the 1st and 2nd world giving them enough to keep them placated, and the simple act of giving it to them without any effort on the people's part makes them believe that they shouldn't have to work for it. And so it is that paternalism and handout mentality set in.
In other news our friends threw us a going away party this evening and it put a few more things on the list of what I'll be missing. I love talking with educated people here, its really great comparing cultures and stories, etc. The problem is those people are few and far between. I'll miss them though and I'm sure I'll see them again.
We also climbed the hill of the cross today with a delegation from Iowa. It'll probably be our last time for a long while. Our neighbor and god-daughter climbed with us, all the god-daughter hitched more than a few rides on people's backs.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing long lost people in the U.S. Give me a call or an e-mail and I'll make an effort to stop by on my drive from Texas to Baltimore. I hope you don't mind a visit from two angry cats at the same time though.
By the way, I'm also going to be launching a separate blog for more political and news type posts. So get ready for www.Taos2Cents.com. It's not all the way working just yet, it'll be ready before I leave though.
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Hey, Tao. If New Orleans is on your way, you guys have a place to crash, but I am not sure about the angry cats. We have three angry ones of our own (we just moved, and they are sequestered inside for a month). We can figure it out. email me. Posted by: Liz | July 3, 2007 04:59 AM |
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