20080328

3/28/2008

We just left Cagayan De Oro, RP. I believe that the USS Vandegrift is the first navy ship to visit CDO since World War II. Apparently there were a few people who protested our presence there, however, everyone I met there seemed very friendly and cordial for the most part. I was also able to get online for once and download some updates for my laptop. I bought a few souvenirs and things for my kids, as well as some shoes nice Speedo’s and a book about human intuition.

I read the first few pages of the book and it got me wondering about coincidental occurrences, intuition, and the possibility that there is an underlying connection between all things, to which the human mind is somehow subconsciously in tune. But those are thoughts for another time.

There were some areas with some extremely bad living conditions in Cagayan De Oro, and seeing the state of some of the people there was a very humbling experience. I have thought about how difficult life is for other people in poverty, especially in extreme poverty like I witnessed here. But to experience it firsthand is a wholly distinct experience from imagining it, and I believe that any morally decent person’s heart would go out to these people upon such an experience. These people were living in little forts made of plywood and leaves. Some of the luckier ones had roofs made of sheet metal. These “houses” had no electricity or running water, and the toilet consisted of a hole in the floor. Some of them were built over the water, and some weren’t. Most of the kids appeared to be very undernourished; to give them a coin worth, literally, $0.025 (40 of these would make 1 dollar) excited them more than my kids were excited over their Christmas presents. Seeing all this inspired me to undertake an idea for a non-profit company that would encourage and sponsor not only children and families in need of support, but the people who desire to help them through volunteering their efforts.

So now it’s back to nutrition, STA21, preservation, the daily bullshit, and planning for the future.