It has been almost two weeks since our return from our expedition with the National Geographic Society. Still, I don't want to awaken from the most amazing of dreams. Experiencing so many diverse cultures in a relatively short period of time has tested my preconceptions of what is "civilization". I have always thought about our society as being the ideal that all cultures would naturally want to aspire to be. I no longer hold this opinion. For example, we would consider the people of Papua New Guinea as poor and primative. Yet, the people there have all the food they want or need which they obtain from the jungle and the river. Clothing is not a priority since it is the hottest and most humid place that I have ever experienced (I wish that I could have felt comfortable taking my clothes off.). They have no cars, no engines for their dugout canoes, no soda, television, telephone. What they do have is a very strong sense of family and community. Extended families live in the same large homes elevated on stilts. These consist of one large room that everyone shares. Even the cooking is done in this room. They have rituals that bind them together as a community. When the boys become men, they undergo a scarification ritual. The women are not required to do this, but many will volunteer for scarification when a brother is to undergo it as a show of support for their brother. They are very proud to do this. The villages that we visited were as neat as a pin. There is no garbage since they don't have packaging, etc. Everything gets used. The people are polite and friendly. They are skilled artisans. Their civilization meets their needs. They have no need for most of the things that we possess and hold dear.
This is just one example. I'll spare you the others until we meet and you decide that you want to discuss it further. Don't get me wrong, our society is the one that I know and want to live in, but it doesn't have to be this way in order to be happy.
More pictures to follow later today and tomorrow if I don't get called to work.
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