More Appreciative of Our Society

Jim Harbison
I recently returned from a visit to Peru. It is a beautiful rugged country with tremendous national pride of its rich cultural heritage. It is a hard working industrious society that still utilizes historical farming techniques. Many still adhere to ancient Inca traditions and values. The people are warm and friendly and seem to be very happy with their lives, lives that we would find very difficult and physically demanding. I have never encountered a society that seems to be as content with their lives as the Peruvians.
Machu Picchu in Peru

Visiting other countries certainly makes one really appreciate everything we have in the United States. There are so many things we take for granted such as access to electricity, safe drinking water, functioning sewer systems and all the modern technological advancements too numerous to enumerate. Even in the City of Lima with its population of more than 10 million it is necessary to drink only bottled water and in even the best hotels the sanitation systems are inefficient. Nationally, more than 90% of the construction is with adobe bricks. Building fronts have stucco facades but the side and rear walls clearly displayed the unadorned adobe construction.
We traveled through many communities where TV was not available – perhaps a cultural advantage. On a rare occasion we spotted a DirecTV type satellite dish but these were generally on one of the more prominent houses in the community. There were no theaters, bowling alleys, video arcades, skateboard parks or other recreational facilities. However, every community, no matter how small or how poor, had a well maintained and prominent soccer field. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Share/Bookmark

0 comments:

Post a Comment