Sunday, December 02, 2007

Caved kids

Something amazing and thought-provoking came to my attention via a great Russian-language blog about China called 马-Gazeta. The English story may be seen at the Reuters page.

It's a story about a little school in a Miao village, somewhere in China's Guizhou province. I should say that I came in touch with the Miao people on Hainan island, and apart from the cool sounding name for this nationality, I began to entertain a certain attachment to the Miao's fair ... let's say 'gender' to avoid a possible pun, and as a dabbling polyglot learned a few phrases in Miao (which have happily fallen into oblivion for the absence of practical usage)...

But it's not the story - here I'll tell y'all a thing that could make recurrent bitching about how much the stuff we have doesn't work right or doesn't satisfy or breaks at the wrong time seem like overreacting and actually abusing those gifts which life has given us to have but for some time, something which I myself tend to forget pretty often. On the second thought in the same idea-basket falls the guess that all those cool possessions and gadgets are not what should be making us truly happy. Well, same old actually, nothing new under this sun.

Anyhow - long story short - here is the Dongzhong school.


It is located under the soaring dome inside a huge hangar-size cave, which houses all the amenities and teaching facilities. All I am saying I am sure those kids are simply happy to be going to any school or throw the ball into a makeshift hoop, but here I sit letting the thought that I don't have a faster computer or a better phone make me not enjoy the things I have right now. I am sure those little people are amazed at the magic of a TV show in a kind of a different way than myself in the solitude of my apartment on a couch.

After re-reading my post (more a note to self) it's not even a juvenile claim to go change the world, but rather of a reminder not to be so attention stingy towards the gifts which are already falling out of the handfuls.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, this looks like another world!
Didn't know such thing existed!

12:29 AM, December 09, 2007

 
Blogger pmonchet said...

A friend of mine texted me with the following words:
"Don't spoil what you have by desiring what you don't have. Rather remember that what you have now were once were among the things you only hope for".

5:01 PM, December 11, 2007

 
Blogger BillyWarhol said...

Awesome Wise Proverb + Funny*

;))

Peace*

3:45 PM, January 24, 2008

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Amazing school and amazing photos. Absolutely surreal.

4:41 PM, October 09, 2008

 

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