Our little boat traveled through the waters of a remote river in Northern Vietnam during the spring of 2002. We travelled through the bends of the river into a tiny village where our tourist group spent the night. We spent the night with a happy family, who cooked for us, and who showed us what it was like to be live in remote Vietnam. There was no running water. They cooked over an open flame. There were no books.
There was no information from the outside world except that which was brought in from tourists or the regular trips to the nearest city. In that little village, the children didn’t go to school, they did need to. I’m assuming that they would simply grow-up and work in the same rice patties that their grandfather worked.
They will never be able to learn about new things or new ideas. All they will be able to do is to obey what is passed down to them, because they will probably never learn to read.
The easiest way to control a people is to control the information.
If a people learn to read then the people learn to think for themselves.
If a people learn to read then the people will understand the wonderful world that is out there and that their potential is so much more than simply serving a master.
If a people learn to read, then they can read the Bible and learn about a God who loves them, and sent His son to die on a cross for them.
So much is at stake for people to read. Support efforts in your area to teach others to read.
Reading isn’t the answer to all of our problems, but it will put us on the road to where the solutions lie.
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This is a repost of a post titled “Where The Solutions Lie” for October 2009.
Photo by Lee Aik Soon on Unsplash