The Jump

Apologies to historians out there: I passed American History with an “A” but dates and details are fuzzy… Rebekah and I were talking by lantern light one evening and lit upon the topic of the progression of civilizations and society. As per usual, Rebekah had lots of well developed and articulated thoughts on the topic, and I had lots of scattered, vaguely interconnected, and generally jumbled thoughts on it. The combo of her brilliance, and my… eh… led to this blog topic: The Jump.

A long time ago people from Europe mostly, decided they weren’t afraid of change, hard work, or adventures, so they left their homes and moved to a new land. They found religious freedom and hardships as they explored their new home.

These challenges did not quench their spirit; they worked hard, shed blood, and fought to create a nation that reflected their hopes and dreams. Necessity, the mother of invention, gave birth to the creation of new farming methods, the development of machinery, and advances in religious and political freedoms.

The American agriculture based society gave way to the industrial revolution which lasted for a long time, and now we find ourselves in a technological era of sorts. Our history followed a sit, stand, walk, kind of progression. Our forefathers invested and we now reap the benefits and strive to follow in their example through discovery, invention, and progress.

A long time ago, on the continent of Africa, people from the west began immigrating in a south-easterly direction, driven by drought and the need for new grazing land. They met up with other people groups and continued their slow journey until they arrived in what is now called East Africa. Then a bunch of big European countries came in and discovered them and decided to protect them and mine for diamonds and minerals and wild animals and take advantage of the cheap labor. They drew lines on a map and divided the continent up and named the people groups they found and set out to civilize the natives. This was attempted through forced schooling, and a variety of religious teachings.

Years of subjugation and misguided attempts of helping, civil wars, ethnic cleansing, and the hardships that came from daily life destroyed the traditional cultural values and the spirits of the people groups. Necessity, the mother of charitable giving, gave birth to handouts, rationed food distribution and the rise of dictators.

The African hunter-gatherer society gave way to colonization and protectionism which lasted for a long time and now they find themselves in an era of handouts. Their history followed a walk, stand, sit kind of progression. The ancient knowledge of their forefathers was lost as the old generation died off, the middle generation was lost to AIDS, and the current generation is growing without parents. Substance farmers have cell phones but nothing to eat during the growing seasons. Children are given computers in generous giving-fests from the west, but have no potable water, electricity, let alone an understanding of what computers can do, or how they should be treated.

The Jump: agricultural society jumps to technological era- without the brain work, without the experimentation, without the sweat and tears. The ability to reason out why the phone, speaker, computer, or car won’t work is not there. The groundwork, the understanding of basic electricity, mechanics, or methods is not there.

My small brain wonders; are we again hindering the people we want to help? By not allowing them to think about new ways to do things, by just giving them the answers, do we keep them handicapped? Sharing knowledge and teaching is one thing, giving a child a computer is a totally different ball game.