Even though I'm not a full time
voyager, as a partial LLL (lifelong learner) I am able to sit in on
many learning opportunities. In fact, I don't know HOW full time
voyagers who take classes are able to manage! I am always hussling
to get from one activity to the next. Due to my arthritis, I'm now
taking the elevator and I'm getting over feeling guilty about that!
I sat in on a psychology class taught
by Charlie Morris who was emphasizing the importance of genes and
inherited traits. He talked a lot about the twin studies and
adoption studies, etc. Charlie's idea is: If you treat your
children the same, you are treating them unfairly. Which means
everyone who comes into the world is unique. I certainly knew that
from my own children!!
Here's something else that caught my
attention: 85% of all crimes in the world are committed by 18-20
year old males, and all evidence is that the genetic predisposition
for crime goes back to the father. Even in the worse slums (think
Detroit), 95% of the people living there don't commit crimes.
Also, about developing alzheimers late
in life: If you're doing something good for your heart, it's good
for your brain. Oh, my....I haven't been able to jog in the pool
yet, and I can't work out in the gym!!
In the afternoon, I listened to a
young woman from the Upper Pennisula in Michigan who has lived in
Bhutan which is a tiny place northwest of Burma. (She's from
Municing and, of course, her name is “Maki”) LJ & SK find
Burma on the map/globe between India and China/Thailand above the Bay
of Bengal....The government has a policy of promoting GHP (instead of
GNP) which stands for gross national happiness!!
These are one-on-one interviews for a questionaire of 30 pages.
That doesn't seem a good way to promote happiness to me...
The religious
tradition of Buddism is everywhere in daily life in Bhutan, and people wear the
“Buddist” outfit during the day and prayer flags are hung
everywhere. After supper, the young people come out into the
streets in jeans.
There have been
four kings since 1907, and now the government is elected by the
people. The democracy is only five years old, and many of the
older people still want the king to tell them what to do. There
are 60 million people in Burma with 19 different languages. Not
only that, but over half of the population are under 25 years old.
Plus, there are more boys than there are girls!
In some forms of
Buddism, people make long hikes to temples at the top of a mountain
to make themselves better people by placing something there as an
offering. Perhaps they've done something about which they feel
guilty. Some even climb through narrow rocks and come out the other
end feeling like they are a better person.
By the way, in
case you wondered, the national sport is archery.
In the evening,
I listened to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He's the top guy in the
Anglican Church (think not Catholic and not Presbyterian—in
between)...He praised the students on the ship who volunteered at an
orphanage when they were in Vietnam and tol them how wonderful they
were. People on the ship call him “Arch”, and I had my picture
taken with him. He told a funny story: He was in the Netherlands
(look at the map in Europe, SK & LJ) and a 400 year old school
was being renamed after him. “Arch” said a little girl came up
to him and asked if he was as old as the school. He is MUCH
shorter than I am!!
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