I finally finished the book that I am reading for this class, so I made it through all 358 pages! The main topics that I read about this time were some things we as the "modern day people" can do to make some improvements to the environment that will be beneficial in the long run and have more of a positive effect than some people realize. The book also discussed how important family is and that families make up our communities which in turn make up the world we live in as a bigger picture. It also discusses rituals in our life and ways to bring them back into our life because they are important. These pages also touched a bit on politics and the importance of them. Here is a direct quote from the book, page 343:
"Political parties can bring about such transformation only if we, in massive numbers, join them, embrace them, and ultimately gain a powerful and decisive voice in their policy-making and selection of candidates."
The book states how we always tend to feel that "something will save us" rather it be technology, or another human being, we tend to often times think this way. Once again the book broke down the way the younger cultures think about the "something will save us belief."
The tend to feel there is only one right way to live (which is "our" way) and that everybody should live the same way as we do. The author states that the younger cultures feel that people are essentially flawed or sinful and that we are waiting for someone to save us. An example in the book that was used to compare the younger culture beliefs to the older culture beliefs was that the younger culture may say something like "Who cares what our children's children will inherit: that's their problem and they can work it out the same way we have to work out our problems." The older culture may say something like "We are here now and must deal with the practical realities in this life. Any decisions we make must consider their impact on our grandchildren seven or more generations from now."
New Terms Learned:
-Verboten-means to be outlawed or prohibited
There were really no other words I came across that I had trouble understanding!
The book ends with some "easy answers to difficult problems." The first is summarized to say that history demonstrates that the deepest and most meaningful cultural/social/political changes begin at the individual, not the organizations, governments or intuitions. When helping to save the world we have to get people to understand their own "stories" and believe in them because people tend to act out the things that they believe. Once we get everyone on a similar "page" we can come up with solutions in ways that right now, we may not even be able to imagine!
This book is important and the last few points I wrote about above do a good job of summarizing the book and the main ideas discussed. This booked walked us through some of the problems that we are facing today, some of the actions that lead us there and some of the ideas and ways we can adjust our lifestyles to benefit us and the future. When we do this, we will also be helping to improve the environment. Some important things that I learned and that I can apply to my everyday life is that changes do start at the individual. Sometimes this is hard to realize when you feel like something you do is so small compared to the big picture, but when you think about it you really are making a difference and contributing. I also learned the value of family and how that contributes to the individual, the community and again, the big picture. I always knew family was important but I never really thought of it as relating directly to the environment. Another big fact I learned was how important of a role that history plays in the future, especially with the environment as the main focus.
I would recommend this book, it is a good and informational read. It can be a little drawn out and confusing at time but overall it has a really good message and is explained well.
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