Last Exploration

I thought that "The Idea of the Local Economy", by Wendell Berry, was both eye-opening and interesting.  It brought up many ideas that I had not thought of before.  I think that the last sentence in the article sums it all up.  "Without prosperous local economies, the people have no power and the land no voice."  In order to improve our economy, we need to rely on ourselves instead of other countries.  Berry mentions that he is with a guy by the name of Albert Schweitzer when he said that, "These people could achieve true wealth if they could develop their agriculture and trade to meet their own needs..."  This idea is called a "local economy".  We need to develop and put into practice the idea of a local economy.  That will solve a majority, if not all, of our financial problem

 I chose to read about Rigoberta Menuchu Tum.  Tum was the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1992.  She grew up in Guatemala.  She talks about how there is a lot of tension between descendants of European immigrants and native Indian people.  Another thing that she talks about is the death of her brother, mother, and father. Tum writes about her Nobel Prize speech in "Five Hundred Years of Mayan Oppression" .  In the speech, Tum first talks about the civilization of the Mayas.  They developed a very rich style of life whether it be of political organization or economically.  Who knows what else they could have done if they had not been conquered. Mun later goes on to say that she interprets the Nobel Prize given to her as a gift for the Mayas that are no longer alive. She then makes the speech something bigger.  She starts talking for every Indian in the world. "... in the American Continent, for indians as well as for non-indians, whether they be racially mixed, blacks, whites, or Asian.  The whole society has the obligation to show mutual respect..."  She says that if everyone would have gotten along to start, society would have been more advanced.  Her goal is to make like less unequal.