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Sue Cauhape's avatar

I loved reading all these stories. MOREMOREMORE! You might highlight links in a darker color on the white background though instead of yellow. Other than that, it's readable, fun, and informative. I don't think you're crazy at all; then again, I've been accursed of that myself. HA!

One thing that nudged at me, though, is the idea of education and how it changes societies. Many people around the world have come to value education, perhaps to our peril. What purpose is education? Is it to help us find easier, better-paying work? Is it to teach us about the knowledge and wisdom developed from the past that will help us build a more sustainable and pleasant global society? Is it filtered and winnowed of the chaff of human knowledge to the point we have no skills to help us feed, clothe, and house ourselves? The story about the Khmer Rouge forcing unskilled city people to work in rice fields led to starvation and death. As for the family's son working with his father in the paddies, he regrets baling from his educational opportunities, but if he doesn't continue the tradition of raising rice, who will do that so his wife can continue the business? To get the work he would be educated to do, the family would need to move to the city. And the cycle continues. We in America are highly educated, but we have to hire foreign labor to do the essential work for us, either because Americans don't have those skills or they don't want to do that kind of work. We've become incompetent in providing for ourselves and look down upon those who still do these jobs. The Cambodians live a very pre-industrial lifestyle. If they mechanize, burning various fuels to power the machines, they will be following in the dirty footsteps of industrial cultures. So, how do we calibrate our educational standards and our mechanization so that it provides for our needs while not polluting the earth? We could rely on wind and solar, of course, but there are downsides to all alternative power sources, as we are learning now. I doubt if anyone would want to take the human population back to pre-industrial levels, but maybe a prudent exploration of some of those hands-on technologies would be part of the solution. Food for thought. Thank you, Michael, for this fascinating post.

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Amran Gowani's avatar

My wife and I have a running gag: which one of us is responsible for attracting crazy people? The ledger usually tips in my favor, and this post is more fuel for the fire. 🤣🤣🤣

Love the new column idea. Looking forward to more!

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