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Hill
WHY NOT LEARN SOME
GEOGRAPHY?
When our astronauts went to the moon they returned
with striking pictures of the planet on which we live.
For the first time in history we could view our entire
beautiful blue orb-a virtual God's-eye view.
Seen from halfway to the moon, our good Earth is a
sparkling jewel of life etched on the black background
of lifeless space.
It
truly "hangs on nothiog," as cited
in the Bible record thousands of years old.
lt
is desir–
able, cherished, regarded as "home" to those who
have sailed the void of space.
Political borders are not visible. Only continental
outlines surrounded by the blue waters of life show
any apparent "division." Unlike the globe map in the
schoolroom or study, specific countries are not clearly
identified in tones of pink, red, green, blue, orange or
yellow. All those tones are there, but they softly blend
into one another on closer view. Larger rivers and
mountain chains become defined- and they have long
been favorite political boundaries- but no harsh,
straight lines of longitude or latitude are arbitrarily
drawn in the natural view of Earth the way the Cre–
ator designed it.
Jt
is simply one single startlingly beautiful sphere,
designed for all life on it to share- a single, life-filled
spaceship, integrated, whole, entire- events occurring
in any one part eventually atfecting the other parts:
one body of life.
But viewed myopicalJy from its surface, harsh real–
ity turns harmony into confusion and turmoil. To gain
the riches planted on and under its surface by a gener–
ous and loving God, mankind has chosen to divide
and conquer! Denying that he is of
one
family- Adam
and Eve- mankind has accented his physical differ–
ences throughout history, creating more divisions on
an ever increasing scale. Greedily and gorily grabbing
and identifying with small pieces of the whole, each
nation, no matter the size of the piece of land occu–
pied, has suffered to one degree or another the loss of
benefits to be gained by sharing the whole.
History books are full of maps which show con–
stantly ftuctuating political lines and boundaries. Most
drawn in blood, they demonstrate the rule of power:
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1978
In each generation one group of mankind
takes
from
its neighbors, its
brothers.
Today's world is no different- with perhaps one ex–
ception: More
taking
happens faster in more places at
any one time!
Sorne few nations have had relatively stable borders
for a hundred years or more. Most have changed
radically with the decades. The years since the turn of
the twentieth ceotury have given map-makers night–
mares. The "peace" treaties signed at the end of the
two great world holocausts and countless smaller con–
fticts (merely marking lulls between rounds of war)
resulted in the exchange, labeling- and relabeling-of
territory. And, since World War
JI,
as the developing
Third World nations have wrested their independence
from colonial overlords, they have renamed nations.
cities and villages in a fit of nationalistic fervor. So. by
the time the printers are through with the cartogra–
phers' painstaking efforts and copies are in the hands
of the customer, the product is often out of date.
Why not obtain a blank. nonpolitical map from
your local stationery store? Get a piece of tracing
paper and identify the most recent política! changes
on an overlay. Watch TV and print-media reports
indicating changes. Make
one
copy a month-try it for
the rest of this decade. lf the whole world seems too
much trouble, pick one continent. Why not try Africa?
lt is called the "dark continent" not because of the
color of skin of the majority of its inhabitants. but
from our admitted general lack of knowledge regard–
ing it. But the light of day is coming to dark Africa.
Africa is a seething kaleidoscope of ever changing
ethnic demands, political persuasions, economic stress.
Africa may be dark, far away and perhaps of little
interest to you, but what happens there very closely
affects your daily way of life. Scarce, on a worldwide
scale, and absolutely necessary elements of mineral
and vegetable form come from Africa- and without
them your life would be
drastically
changed.
Why not learn sorne geography- and more closely
identify with another vast and important pan of
your
world?
O
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