6-3-3-4 (Short Story) - 6/19/2014 8:52:13 AM
An interesting, humorous story, with a whole lot of truth to it! I have never been to Nigeria, but have had several Nigerian students in my classes and who worked for me as graduate assistants. Generally, upon coming to the United States, they did very well in school. I have learned also that there were some very smooth and enterprising types who seemed to find that deception was better than truth for getting ahead. This is the malady that's not entirely Nigerian, it tends to affect all students, regardless of their backgrounds. I found them easy to detect and wondered why they were able to get so far on so little knowledge and skill.
And you are so right. Our educational institutions are corrupted by bad actors like these.
Ron
A Definition of Poverty (Article) - 6/20/2014 5:57:38 AM
You have defined poverty very well… and overcome it.
Poverty results in two kinds of behavior. The first kind, despair, leads to evermore poverty and usually, early death from deprivation of one type or another. The second kind, ambition, like you had, forces one to try to find a way out of that condition and improve one's life. Merely by making it to the university, in spite of your struggle and deprivation, was a way out of poverty.
So much of Africa is locked in poverty. The political and economic system that creates wealth has always relied on poverty as a way of "using" the poor to gain more and more riches. From experience, we know that communism doesn't work, especially when it is taken over by thugs who benefit from people who become dependent on the state for their livelihood. Only well-regulated democracy can raise people out of poverty, providing equal opportunity for all. Unfortunately, here in the United States, certain wealthy interests have been quietly removing the regulation that controls wealth and more and more Americans are going hungry, shoeless, and homeless every year.
You are a good example of how education works. Educated people have fewer children to feed because they focus on ideas and solutions to their problems instead of having children to help them eke out a bare existence. Education helps people avoid making mistakes that destroy their food and water supplies, make them unhealthy, and take them out of despair.
I do not understand the food you are describing, but it does not sound nutritious or tasty. Thank you so much for giving us a taste of what real poverty is.
Ron
