I went outside to dump food scraps and noticed my host dad drinking shots with my partner's husband. Host told me to come over and have 20g. When I told him "no thank you, I had 50g at school today" he pointed to his bottle and said it couldn't possibly have been the same kind of liquor that he has.
So, we had a drink and discussion about urbanization... The "coming-of-age" discussion about Moldova's development. It's interesting, he said that the young people now in Moldova are becoming more like the young people in Italy (where he works). Lazy, not wanting to work on the land, only wanting technology like computers. He said that he believes computers are destroying peoples' minds and lead to psychological illnesses. That developed countries have more people suffering from psychological illness--caused by computers, lack of nature--than somewhere rural like in Moldova. My partners' husband agreed with him that they don't want Moldova to become urban like parts of America and Europe (I am adding the word "parts" into this paraphrase, but I am not assuming that when they spoke about urbanization in America and Europe that they only meant certain "parts"... Most people I have met imagine America and Europe as being covered with sky-rises).
The things he said about computers making people crazy is debatable, but an interesting point he made involves the joy he finds in planting a single seed that slowly grows into something he can consume. Too often people are not involved in this process and do not appreciate where and how their food is produced (to paraphrase his thoughts). I am, though partly by birth and a suburban, wealthy (by world standards) upbringing, often guilty of this ignorance or lack of appreciation. However, I do not believe that families individually producing and sustaining their own food is always better--if the family is not given a choice--than purchasing goods from a market.
Thoughts? I hope Aneri will read this and respond :)
3 comments:
Haha I read it! I think he does make a good point that the American culture of constant technology distances us from reality. I read that Americans spend 85% of their life indoors. Isn't that terrible! And it would be nice if we were more connected to our food and thought more about how it is produced. But I also really love a huge grocery store. So perhaps the happy medium is to go more to a farmer's market and look more carefully at our ingredients?
Thanks!:) WOW, yeah 85% is a ridiculously high %. He made good points about being more connected with nature. I'm going to miss the garden when I'm back home. I hope I can find the time and energy to have my own.
I forgot to add another comment that my host dad made. He said that people do not need to be "too informed" because it "destroys the mind". My partner's 30-some-year-old husband agreed with his statement. I should have asked him more specifically what he meant, but I took it as meaning informed about other people, cultural events, news... just general things. I then told him that I believe knowledge is power and he disagreed so some things are culture (and possible reflections of our experiences and history).
Anyway, thanks for the response! :)
I concur, "Wissen ist Macht." Although, too much useless knowledge will probably destroy your mind.
Whether or not technology will drive you mad is certainly debatable, but I'm hoping that it won't. Apparently, the United States leads the world on the mental illness front, so there is causality between technology and craziness [1].
85% makes sense if you consider that most people sleep eight hours a day, then work from nine to five in an office (only about 2 percent of Americans work in agriculture [2]), and then party at crazy night clubs for a couple hours (true story [3]).
I blame the industrial revolution for everything.
1 - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5111202/
2 - http://www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/extension.html
3 - I just made that up (Fox News style).
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