At 9:30 AM -0500 11/27/98, Brad McCormick, Ed.D. wrote:
<<snip>>
>
>... If our culture bestowed the highest honors
>on people who solved problems of preventive medicine, minimizing
>resources needed for production, etc., then that's what the
>brightest minds would eagerly
>work on, rather than searching for ever more
>elementary particles in physics, devising ever more complex organ
>transplant procedures, planning ever bigger corporate mergers, etc.
>
I could not agree more. Our society has forgotten what a powerful
motivator recognition is.
>There is a phrase from medieval Christian monasticism:
>"peregrinatio in stabilitate", which was reiterated by one
>of the early Jesuit missionaries to China (a "space
>traveller" of his time):
>
> To go on an adventure,
> one does not need to leave one's native town.
In my relative youth, I dreamed of sailing the seas, and once set out
on such a trip. But fairly early on, I realized that the physical
journey was less satisfying than intellectual and spiritual journeying,
and went back home. I travelled a fair amount in my youth but feel
little urge to do so any more, partly because there is very little
"ther" there any more. It seems ythat wherever you go there are
McDonalds, gas stations and hotels just like they are at home. I hear
that even many of the ancient villages of Italy and England have become
weekend retreats for affluent urbanites. On many days my email brings
me more treasures than I could find in a month of jet lagged travel,
and it costs very little and has little environmental impact.
Caspar Davis
