On Sun, Jul 04, 2010 at 09:31:17PM -0400, Steven Wight wrote:
>
> We knew the
> country was rife with corruption, violence, mismanagement and greed.
>
> What we found were individuals overwhelming in their generosity,
> understanding in attitude, and thoughtful beyond measure to the needs
> of young kids far from home. The dangers we 'knew' from media reports
> only existed in media reports, as far as we could tell. We never
> locked the boat. We had some mechanical failure that involved
> organizing a crane, a tractor trailer, and sourcing parts from the
> middle of nowhere. As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough
> get going. And we were very fortunate to have found skilled
> professionals who really had no concept of 'impossible'.
>
> So, the bottom line? No idea. But we learned Americans weren't so
> bad, eh?
[applause] Bravo! :)
That's been my own experience in pretty much every country I've visited.
It just reinforces the belief that I've had for a long time: most people
in most places are just normal folks, living their daily lives; on the
average, people are kind, friendly, and helpful. There's only a small
power-hungry minority that creates the kind of large-scale living hell
that gets recorded in history books... but I guess we can't ever get rid
of them.
It seemed to be a chronic disease. It was as if even the most
intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where
someone had written: "Kings. What a good idea." Whoever had created
humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend
at the knees.
-- Terry Pratchett, "Feet of Clay"
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