I will admit, I geek out a little when it comes to people and cultures and how life is in other parts of the world...and I just received this offer from National Geographic for a book they are publishing, "Book of Peoples of the World" - containing excerpts, photos, etc. for preview. This one in particular stuck out to me - not in its literal sense, though it's an interesting concept in that way. Figuratively, it can be interpreted to represent any number of circumstances in our lives in which we create boundaries...stake the claim that something is 'mine' and not 'yours' - in an effort to protect ourselves, our families, our work (what we've earned), our hearts...
Think on it however suits you.
Those who have no fence around their land have no enemies.
~ Burundi proverb
(For those of you who are uncertain or would like a little bit more context, Burundi is a central African nation smaller in size than the state of Maryland, bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Republic of Congo. In the mid-90s, its first democratically elected president was assassinated after only 100 days in office, triggering widespread Hutu/Tutsi violence - similar to the conflict more widely known in Rwanda. Over 200,000 Burundians were killed over the course of almost a dozen years - imagine that as a percentage of population in a country smaller than Maryland! A relatively peaceful state and ceasefire has been "internationally brokered" in the past few years, but Central Africa still faces many challenges. How's that for perspective? Oh...and I just learned all this on the CIA World Factbook website...)
No comments:
Post a Comment