Here's 5 minutes worth of writing forGypsy Mama's prompt: On Distance.
Come join us!
I have always felt that it was
wonderful to be living in these times.
Even if my home is in the Philippines,
I am connected to the whole world.
Blogging has brought me friends in so many continents.
The news about other countries
is just a mouse click away.
The irony is that computers
and the internet have also
put a bigger distance between
the haves and the have nots.
Schools in the provinces have no computers
and so the children there have no way of learning
how to use it.
My son has been using the computer
ever since he was a baby.
Now he is 16 and he learns so fast,
reads so fast, knows more than I do
about gadgets.
Recently, he impressed his grandfather
at how quickly he learned to use a plasma cutter,
just by following the tutorial on the computer.
Then I talk to my helperwhose family is in the province,
and she says how can there be a computer in
the schools when there are not even enough chairs?
Not even enough school books?
Picture of the schoolroom is from
Canadian Food for Children Website.
I did not think of distance in this way. There is a great chasm between rich and poor and you wonder how or if the poor will ever have a chance at education or climbing out of their poverty. I really enjoyed your article.
ReplyDeleteAs a schoolteacher, this kind of distance makes my heart hurt.
ReplyDeleteFound you over at Gypsy Mama's... this is a eye-opening thought. Americans take technology for granted so much of the time, it seems to transcend poverty in our own minds, when there are bigger needs we need to see.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a story I heard about someone collecting supplies for the homeless and getting excited about a particularly large donation. They opened the box to find... microwave popcorn. For the homeless. So many of us are so out of touch with poverty and what true need looks like that we don't recognize it when its in front of us. Thank you for reminding us of needs that reach beyond our immediate vision.
PS - Your art is beautiful!
Hi Patsy. I'm Julie. I found you over at Lisa-Jo's. What a great post! Very sobering. What a coincidence that I wrote about a friend in the Philippines this week. I've never written about her or the Philippines before and I don't know if I've ever come across another person living there.
ReplyDelete