So here it is. My first ever blog for my peace corps South Africa adventure. I've read a lot of blogs by peace corps volunteers and they're all mushy, sad and sometimes just silly crazy that makes you wonder, hey, you's being silly. Many of you may know me and it's best you read this blog while imagining that I'm talking to you. So be prepared to be inspired, confused, happy, sad, mad, to laugh, and maybe to just downright be offended by my existence in general. So enjoy!
Ah this is it. Finally going to the country of Africa. That will be country number 17 according to my facebook map. I always thought Africa was a continent, but Sarah Palin told me that it's actually a country, and I believe her. So many thoughts to wonder, so many things to ponder. No seriously there's a lot to think about and I finally realize why Barack Obama sutters all the time. I think it's because he has so many thoughts and ideas running through his head at one time that it's impossible to formulate them into words at a rapid pace.
For 27 months my job description/title is "HIV/AIDS outreach volunteer". People ask me what that means all the time. I don't quite know what to say, or maybe I do know what to say but they just interrupted my game of madden and I want to get back to playing so I tell them my job is to tell kids not to get the HIV. And if you really think about it, get down to the nitty gritty, throw out all the mumbo jumbo confusing stuff, it kind of is really that simple, a goal that even though can be muttered in a short sentence, there are thousands of obstacles. And here lies the problem. As we all know humans are political beings. That's not to say everyone is politically active but at some point you're going to come to the conclusion that there are things that you agree with and disagree with, things that you think are right and wrong and just by simply deciding you become a political being. And that holds true for the battle against AIDS. You'd think that something so dire and terrible that everyone could be united on the fact that we should all tell kids not to get the HIV. I think we all want to say "ah snap I just prevented little Jimmy's white cell count from taking a major dive by showing him ways to prevent the transmission of HIV". But looking at the bigger picture nothing is free, and there will always be arguments as to how we should educate, who should we educate, where do we get the money, what to put the money into, do we try to put all funding into finding the cure, do we put all the funding into prevention and education, is abstinence education only the way to go, should we be giving condoms out to 12 year old kids, or do we just inject money into our bloodstream while we shotgun beers and hope for the best? So many things to think about, but perhaps that's all outside my jurisdiction, because I'm still not sure what my jurisdiction is. I'll find out in a few days what I'm actually going to be doing and I'll tell you about it. You can read all types of books, read all types of articles on what goes on and what doesn't but I'm hoping of getting the real deal when I'm there and I'll see what works and what doesn't in my opinion.
As you know South Africa is the country with the highest number of HIV infected people. That number hovers around 6 million in a country of 48 million people and it makes you say "whoa 6 x 8 = 48." And i'll smile knowing you still know math. This can be extrapolated by the fact that half the popultation is under the age of 18 (or is it 25, I'm not sure and maybe this fact could be totally made up shizzle what) you could make the generalized argument that mostly kids don't have HIV, that instead of 1 out of 8 people having HIV, 1 out of 4 adults could have it. Scary scary. Now those are generalizations. I can list all the stats to you, but that would be pointless because you get the picture. Compound this by the fact that our dear friend Thabo Mbeki has quoted for such a long time that "HIV does not cause AIDS". But I think he admitted it does recently, so good on him.
My last day before I depart for my mission. Sad that the Gtown Hoyas couldn't get one win before I left. I blame Chris Wright for this one. with 13 minutes to go we're up by 2 you get the rebound and try to fast break against 3 defenders all by yourself? If I'm not mistaken we never retook the lead at that point. It's all good you're still the fastest man alive. Today hopefully my prediction of the Arizona Cardinals winning the Super Bowl will come true. I'm not a cardinals fan but you look smarter by picking a team out of the blue for no reason, so that will be sweet if it happens. People ask if I'm nervous about leaving. I say I'm more nervous about growing up. Because this is essentially what it is. I'm not a student anymore, no more teachers to evaluate you, no more mommy and daddy to say man you're getting fat, this from now on is all me, everything I do here and now is what I have chosen to do. No more being a toy's r us kid. The real deal with a bang. For everyone out there that I know from family to friends you will all be loved and missed. But it's a big world out there, and I plan on taking a look at it with my own eyes.
So why the title? "The Earth is Flat" it's because I'm now a neoconservative evangelical Christian transported from the 1500's to still argue that the Earth is the center of the universe! God told me to tell you that the only things liberals do is abort babies, and after they abort them they put them back in the womb to abort them again. OK not really. You ever hear of the McDonald's theory of economics? This may sound crazy but something so simple is so brilliant and that is, no country that has a McDonald's goes to war with another country that has a McDonalds. Seriously you say? All you globalization haters heed this, globalization brings peace, those we reach out to will have greater understanding of who we are, of who you are, and what we can create together. there is only one direction we can move now, and that's forward and not backward, upward and not forward, and we will always be twirling twirling towards freedom. Together the world can move in this same direction as if the world was flat, there is no going back. The world can be a better place because of it.
A final story for those of you that have actually read past sentence 4 (if you have i'm impressed) and something I'll always keep in mind if I have too many thoughts and too many mind. the great Nagasena, Siddharta Guatama Buddha's greatest disciple was having a change of heart. He was wondering where the Buddha's teachings were going to take him. He wanted to no more, how he got here, where did humans come from, what the meaning of the world's existence was, what the meaning of his existence was, so on and so forth. He came up to Buddha and said if you do not tell me these things I will leave you and no longer be your student. Buddh was puzzled and began telling a story of a man and his son (a doctor) walking through the woods. They were walking and the man gets hit by a stray arrow (just accept it as it is, I don't know why there are stray arrows flying all over the place) He's badly wouned but his son the doctor can save him, but the man says no, before you save me I must no all the things that went into this act. I must know who shot me, I must know what bow he used, I must know who made the weapon, I must know what his life was like, I must know... His son looked at the man and was like dude you like crazy dude. His son had no answers and the man died even though he could have been easily saved. So Buddha asked Nagasena, even if I told you how the world was created and the answer to all those thoughts you had, does that really change anything? Does that lay out a truth for you? Nagasena was silent. Buddha went on to say, or perhaps there is this truth, the fact that you are here. And what you do will define the meaning of your life. Nagasena stayed and became a platinum rap artist. take that Lil' Wayne.
so that's about it. Hopefeully it wasn't too long. And perhaps I'll actually get some useful information in the next couple days. time to pack now. later
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