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 excess in our culture 
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It seems that the United States has been critized for being so consuming and excessive in our culture- on page 441, Pascal is asking his aunt questions about the things he sees in the store-
"But, Aunt adah, how can there be so many kinds of things a person doesn't really need?"
I can think of no honorable answer. Why must some of us deliberate between brands of toothpaste, while others deliberate between damp dirt and bone dust to quiet the fire of an empty stomach lining? "
This passage brought to mind the many struggles we have read about in previous books of others who have faced inequalities. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer?....... How can this change in our country?

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Val Myers


Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:32 pm
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According to the report "The State of the South 2004: Fifty Years after Brown vs Board" on the cover it says, "...the only road out of povery runs by the schoolhouse." While this may be true in the US where does the way out of poverty come for the rest of the world? Jesus said that the poor will always be with us. That sees like a challenge to all to recognize and give aid but know it is an unending endeavor. :cry:

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Chris Sardler


Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:09 pm
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I was reading an article in National Geographic about a a nomadic group of fishermen that live on boats throughout the Archipelagos of Malaysia. They do not want a lot of things because people woud come and steal from them. A young couple with a baby live on a boat with the wife's parents while they wait for a boat of their own, which will be built by the members of the tribe. We look from the outside in and see them as poor. However, they do not see themselves as such.

We are, for the most part, a Gluttonous and wasteful society. We throw away things that would baffle other societies. And we worry about not having the things we consider necessities. Wasn't it funny to hear how the girls were so ladden with "Necessary items" for their trip to Africa. Then, after they had been there a while they realized those weren't the necessary things for that world. What was necessary to survive in Africa could not be bought........it had to come from inside.......a heart.

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Phil Thompson


Wed Apr 20, 2005 4:10 pm
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We are a terribly wasteful society. I think of myself and cannot believe how much I waste in just a week. Our landfills are overflowing, we are burning up natural resources at a pace faster than any other country in the world, and there doesn’t seem to be an end to this. This is from Ishmael, “Quite the contrary, it’s your craft that’s carry you toward catastrophe. Five billion of you pedaling away-or ten billion or twenty billion-can’t make it fly. It’s been in free fall from the beginning, and that fall is about to end.â€

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Andy Palmer


Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:28 pm
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I am overwhelmed sometimes by the sheer number of choices we have in America - an entire aisle in the grocery store devoted to cereal, a gas station and a fast food restaurant on every corner, 75 channels from my cable TV provider, not to mention the variety of products available on the internet. I'm sure this would seem excessive to people from third-world countries (and it seems that way to me, too) but that is our way of life and most of us like it that way - the question is how to enjoy the abundance in America without being wasteful or overly materialistic. I don't think very many of us want to sew our own clothes (as my mother did for me) or grow all of our own vegetables or live without air conditioning - we can be responsible citizens and still be consumers. Sandi Johnson


Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:25 pm
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