Live and Learn

I suppose mostly we attend school from a

very early age to learn worldly ways. We

study our courses to obtain academic tools

needed to preform acceptably in human

society today.

An anthropologist I once knew lived for

a time with a clan of Bushmen in the

Kalahari. She told me that their children

are taught from a tender age how to find

drinkable water and edible plants in the

most desolate of deserts in their region.

Over centuries things have changed and

the once nomadic people in Botswana have

unwittingly become captives of present-day

societal change.

As a young child I was taught to hold my

parents hand, and to look both ways before

crossing the street. When I outgrew the need

for that sort of supervised security, I came to

know that it was wise to take the crosswalk,

and go with the green light. Still, there is

always the chance a drunk or reckless driver

will take you out even when you are in the right.

Granted, in most places today, one needn't look

far to find fitful sustenance to eat and hydrating

libation to drink.

But beware, my friends, things have become

frightfully precarious on the streets of our

so-called civil urban settlements these days.

Keep a cautious eye out for falling bricks, be

prepared for the crazies with vehicles, bombs

and guns. Earth, wind, and fire may still crush,

incinerate or sweep you away at any time.

We’re forced to learn different methods of survival

these days, even though the ravenous big cats and

ill-tempered hyenas (leastwise around these parts)

have mostly been chased away.

Chris Hanch 9-17-18